Dudley's Daughter: Year Three
by NatteryakToad
Summary: It's Mia Dursley's third year at Hogwarts, and she and all her friends have aquired first year "little siblings". Mia knows something's up with her "little sister", and she's determined to find out what it is! A next-gen fic, mostly based around Lily, Hugo and Louis, as well as my OC, Mia. Rose/Scorp. Sometimes.
1. Chapter One: At Shell Cottage

Chapter One

At Shell Cottage

"How do I look?"

Mia Dursley walked into the kitchen of her house in a small Kentish town, and gave a little twirl to show off her new dress for her mother. Her best friend's cousin was getting married to her father's godson, and Mia had been invited to the wedding.

"You look lovely, darling," Mia's mother told her. "Are you all ready?"

Mia nodded, checking her watch. "James will be here soon."

"And you're sure it's safe, this apparition thing?" her mum asked nervously.

Mia wasn't an ordinary thirteen-year-old girl; she was a witch, and had spent the last two years learning magic at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Mia was what magical people called a muggle-born – both her parents were muggles and couldn't do magic.

"People do it all the time, Mum," she said now. "Lily's parents have taken me side-along several times."

"But James... you're not old enough to, uh... apperate, so is he?"

"It's like driving, Mum," Mia explained. "You need to be seventeen and heave a licence. James is almost eighteen, and he got his licence at Easter." There was a knock at the back door. "Oh, that'll be him now."

Mia walked across the kitchen and opened the door to reveal her best friend's oldest brother standing outside. James Potter was tall, with messy black hair and dark brown eyes. In September he'd be starting his seventh and final year at Hogwarts, as well as celebrating his eighteenth birthday.

"Hi, Mia, ready to go?" he asked. "Hi Mrs Dursley," he grinned at Mia's mother over her shoulder.

"I'll just go grab my bag from the hall," Mia said. She was staying overnight with the Potter's, it having been established that it would probably be too late to bring her home after the wedding.

When she got back into the kitchen, James was perched on the edge of the kitchen table, reassuring Mia's mum that apparition was perfectly safe. Mia was glad James had omitted mentioning splinching – a common and uncomfortable side-effect of untrained witches and wizards trying to apperate, which involved leaving several body parts behind – because she was fairly sure her mum wouldn't let her go if she as much as heard the word.

"I hope you don't mind me apperating directly into the garden, Mrs Dursley," James said as he rose to leave. "It's usually considered rude, but I thought it was probably better than arriving out font and having all the muggles see me."

Mia hugged her mum. "See you tomorrow."  
"Be good," Mia's mum told her. "And if you get homesick-"

"I'll ask someone to bring me home straight away," Mia nodded – she knew the drill. How her mum though she could possibly be homesick just spending one night at Lily's when she was used to being away at school for three months at a time, Mia didn't know.

Mia followed James out into the garden, and he swung her backpack over his shoulder.

"Ready?" He offered Mia his arm, and she took it, holding tight. Then she had the uncomfortable sensation of being forced through a too narrow pipe, and then it was over almost before it had begun, and Mia and James were stood on a beach. "Welcome to Shell Cottage."

Mia turned around to see a cottage stood behind them at the edge of the beach. She knew that this was where the parents of the bride – Bill and Fleur – lived. Their youngest child, Louis, was in Mia's year at Hogwarts, and he was one of her best friends. It was Louis who came towards them now, strolling lazily down the beach.

"Hi, Mia," he grinned.

"Hey," Mia smiled, hugging him.

"I need your help," he sighed. "Maman says anyone who's not doing anything needs to make sure the chairs are straight or some rubbish like that, and it's only really you and me, because all the girls are getting ready, and all the guys have gone to Lily's."

"I'll help," Mia said. "James-" she turned around, but James had disappeared.

"He must've gone to Godric's Hollow – that's where all the guys are getting ready... where Teddy is... anyway – chairs."

He led the way around the cottage, to where several hundred pale turquoise chairs were set out in rows on the beach.

"Maman's been up since five, stressing," Louis sighed, as he and Mia walked up and down the rows of already straight chairs, straightening them. "The only person who's fussing more than her is Grandma Weasley. I swear, when I get married, no one older than forty will be allowed to come... you know, I think Maman just wanted to get me out of the house – these chairs are already straight. Let's go back inside."

Inside Shell Cottage was a lot more chaotic than the tranquil scene on the beach outside. The bride, Victoire, was rushing around, still in jogging bottoms and a t-shirt but with her makeup already done, trying to make sure all her bridesmaids – younger sister Dominique and cousins Molly, Lucy, Rose, Roxanne and Lily – were all ready.

"Mia!" Lily squealed when she saw her best friend, jumping up from her chair to hug her.

"Sit down," Vic said firmly. "You'll ruin your dress if you start running around."

Lily sat down, scowling. "I only wanted to hug Mia."

"You guys look great," Mia grinned.

"I look like a little china doll," Roxanne grimaced. Mia knew that she was tomboy, and hated anything even vaguely girly.

"Ahh, Roxanne, your couzine she onlee gets married once," Vic's mother, Fleur said, coming over to kiss Mia on both cheeks. "You can put up wiz eet for one day."

"Yeah, but I haven't only got one cousin, have I?" Roxanne muttered, quietly enough that Fleur and Vic couldn't hear her, but the rest of the cousins could. "I swear, if any of you make me bridesmaid when you get married, I'll kill you."

They all laughed.

"What about when _you_ get married?" Lily asked.

"When _I_ get married, I'm wearing dress robes," Roxanne said decisively. "And you guys can all wear jeans and t-shirts, for all I care."

It wasn't long before guests started arriving, and Mia and Louis were sent outside to help show people to their seats. Apart from the Weasley family, Mia didn't recognise many people as they were mainly Teddy and Vic's friends who were quite a bit older than her; Victoire had finished Hogwarts the year before Mia started, and Teddy was two years older than her.

Mia ended up sat with Hugo and his parents, in the fourth row back. Hermione was fussing over a speck of dirt on the end of Ron's nose which no one but she seemed able to see, and Hugo was carefully averting his eyes, as if they were kissing or something; from all the stories she'd heard about them, Mia could imagine this was their own version of a Public Display of Affection.

Teddy was stood at the front of all the rows of chairs, with Lily's father Harry, his godfather and best man by his side, waiting for his bride to appear. Mia guessed today had to be bittersweet for Teddy – he was marrying the love of his life, but his parents weren't there to see it, as they'd both been killed in the Battle of Hogwarts when he was only a few weeks old.

Music swelled up from an orchestra who were sat a little way off to the side, and every head turned to see Victoire walking down the aisle on her father's arm. Mia had always known Vic was beautiful, but today she was stunning. As she walked up the aisle, several jaws dropped, not only Teddy's. The six bridesmaids followed her, but they were completely eclipsed by Victoire.

A tall, balding wizard stepped forward to take the ceremony. Fleur, and Vic's grandmother, Molly, were already sobbing noisily. Mia saw Vic roll her eyes at them, as she turned to face her husband-to-be, and then it was like there was no one else there, except the two of them – Teddy Lupin and Victoire Weasley. The ceremony was short and simple, and when it was over, Teddy and Vic were Mr and Mrs Lupin. As they kissed, Teddy's hair turned bright turquoise, as everyone had known it would; it was known as his 'happy colour'.

After that, the festivities seemed to go on all day. Lily, Mia, Hugo and Louis found themselves a table out of the way to observe, and were soon joined by Roxanne; Hugo's sister, Rose; Lily's brother Albus; and Garrett and Ben Finch-Fletchley, who were Louis' cousins on his mother's side. The nine of them watched the dancing, not having much inclination to join in.

"Are there many of your mum's family here, Louis?" Lily asked, looking around for people she knew.

"Some," Louis shrugged. "Mainly the Veela cousins." He nodded over at a group of young witches with silvery-blonde hair, who were in the centre of the dance floor, and who had quite a large group of male admirers. James' girlfriend Chlo was trying to drag him away from the Veela, whilst Roxanne's older brother, Fred, was staring at them, open-mouthed.

"Seriously?" Lily sighed. "What is it that makes boys go all drooly over them? They're not even that good looking."

"They are..." Al said dreamily, and everyone saw that he too was staring at the Veela.

"Seriously, Al?" Lily scowled.

"Seriously," Al said.

"Hugo, you're drooling," Roxanne sighed at her cousin. Mia saw that he too was staring at the Veela, and it seemed that Ben, Garrett and Louis were only stopping themselves from following suit by reminding themselves that the Veela were relatives.

"Hey, now I know what makes Louis so popular with the ladies," Lily said. "It's the Veela hair!" Everyone laughed. Louis did have the same silvery-blonde hair as the Veela, just like his mother and oldest sister.

"It's not the hair, it's my natural charm," Louis insisted. "And anyway, whatever it is, it's not working very well at the moment. Zoe broke up with me last week."

"How come?" Hugo asked, tearing his eyes away from the Veela cousins with great difficulty. Louis had been dating Zoe Davies, a Hufflepuff girl in their year, since Easter.

"'It's not you, it's me', that kind of thing..." Louis shrugged. "It's okay – we're gonna stay friends."

"Unlike you and Dove," Lily grinned.

"Mmm..." Louis agreed. His first girlfriend, Dove Ackerley, had completely cut him out of her life when he'd broken up with her.

As the evening drew on, the guests began to leave. Mia stayed with Lily, as she was spending the night at the Potter's house in Godric's Hollow, until Harry and Ginny came over to say it was time to go. Mia took Ginny's arm, as Al took Harry's, and Lily James', and the six of them disapperated.


	2. Chapter Two: The Invitation

Chapter Two

The Invitation

When Mia woke up the next morning, for a minute she wondered where she was, and then she remembered: she'd been to Teddy and Vic's wedding, and now she was on a camp bed on Lily's floor. She sat up quietly – it was still early – and looked around. Lily's room had always fascinated Mia. Like her room at home, it was untidy and crammed full of junk, but in Lily's room it was magical, rather than muggle, junk.

Mia was just starting to look through a stack of photos Lily had taken last summer, when she heard a tapping noise. She looked around for the source of it and spotted a tiny black owl stood in the windowsill, tapping the window with its beak. Mia crossed the room to let the owl in, recognising it as belonging to Will Darrow, who'd played Keeper for the Gryffindor Quidditch team in Mia's first year.

She got the window open, and the owl hopped inside, hooting proudly as it landed on the bedpost and offered Mia its leg.

"What's going on?" Lily asked sleepily, sitting up.

"It's a letter," Mia told her. "From Will." She untied the envelope from the little owl's leg, and he took off out of the window again. Unfolding the letter, Mia read, 'Hi Mia, I hope you're having a good summer. Guess what?... (drum roll please)... I've been selected to play for the England Under 21s in a friendly against Japan week after next! I thought you might want to come – I don't think you've ever seen a pro Quidditch game, have you? – so I've enclosed three tickets so you can bring a couple of friends. Hoping to see you soon, Will.'

"What did he say?" Lily asked, as Mia reached into the envelope and pulled out three tickets, printed on thick parchment.

"He's playing for the England Under 21s in a friendly against Japan," Mia told her. "He's sent me three tickets."

"Oh, we're going to that," Lily said dismissively. "Mum's got tickets through work, and she said we could each take a friend. I was gonna ask you, but if you've got your own ticket then I guess I'll take Hugo."

"Who should I take...?" Mia mused, mentally running through a list of her friends in her head. "Louis-"

"His family are in France then," Lily reminded her. "They're going over to meet Teddy and Vic after their honeymoon, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Mia said. "What about Roxanne?"

"They're away too," Lily told her. "I know cuz James originally wanted to take Fred so they could pick up tips from the Japanese Chasers."

"Who're James and Al taking?" Mac asked.

"James is taking Chlo, and Al's taking Scorp," Lily told her.

"I know, I could take Mac," Mia said. "He's mad about Quidditch, and he'll be well annoyed if he thinks his sister, who doesn't even like Quidditch, is going and he isn't."

"Okay," Lily said. "But Mac and who else?"

"Hmm..." Mia mused. "Can't have Alice without Frankie, or Kieran without Alexander... Rachel doesn't really like Quidditch... Zoe?"

"She's away too," Lily said. "Cuz before she and Louis broke up he said it was good they were away at the same time."

"I know!" Mia said. "I'll take Ruby – she likes Quidditch, and she said she was thinking about trying out for Slytherin Chaser this year."

* * *

Two weeks later, and Mia was once again waiting in the kitchen for James to come and pick her up. Mac and Ruby had both accepted Mia's invitation, and the whole party was meeting at the Potter's house in Godric's Hollow, and travelling on to the match by Floo Powder. Mia had never travelled by Floo before, so she was a bit nervous, but Lily had assured her it was much more comfortable than apparition.

James knocked on the back door, and Mia let him in.

"Ready to go, squirt?" he grinned.

"I'm not a squirt," Mia scowled. "I've grown a whole inch this summer. And I'm taller than Lily now."

"Yeah, well, Lily's a titch," James grinned. "You're just a squirt. So, are you ready?"

"Uh-huh," Mia nodded. "James, why are you bringing Chlo – she doesn't even like Quidditch particularly."

"I know, but she likes me. And that's the point," James grinned. "Hey, what've you done with your parents?" he asked as they stepped out into the garden and Mia locked the back door behind them. "Surely they haven't left you home alone?"

"Uh-huh," Mia nodded. "They're both at work, but Mum only left like twenty minutes ago. She said she figured she could trust me for that long."

James offered his arm, and as she took it, Mia felt the all-too familiar sensation of being squeezed through a narrow pipe, of tight bands around her chest, restricting her breathing, and then it was over, and she was in the middle of action and noise; James had apperated directly into the Potter's kitchen.

"James Sirius Potter, how many times do I have to tell you to watch where you're apperating?" Ginny said. "Oh, hi, Mia – James, you practically landed on top of your brother."

"Damnit – better luck next time, eh?" James grinned.

"You wish," Al said, and within seconds the two brothers were rolling around on the floor in a good natured rough and tumble.

A blast from Ginny's wand threw them apart. "It's not too late to leave you at home, you know," she said, as James and Al picked themselves up off the floor.

"It's too late to leave me behind," James grinned. "Cuz I can just-" he turned on the spot and disappeared with a crack, only to reappear over the other side of the kitchen, behind his mother "-make my own way there."  
Harry came into the kitchen. "James, stop winding up your mother and brother," he said. "Now are we all here?"

"Apart from Chlo and Mac," James said.

"They're coming down the hill," Lily said, looking out of the window above the kitchen sink. Mac was running down the hill towards the gate at the bottom of the Potter's garden, his sister following more sedately.

"Right," Harry said, once everyone was in the kitchen. "Who hasn't travelled by Floo before?"

Mia was the only one, so she watched as the others went first, all taking a pinch of emerald green powder, throwing it into the fire, saying 'Puddlemere United Quidditch Club', and stepping into the flames and disappearing.

"Ready?" Harry asked, when he and Mia were the only people left in the room.

"I think so..." Mia said nervously. What if she got lost, or came out in the wrong place...

"Don't worry," Harry said. "I'll be right behind you."

Mia took a pinch of Floo powder, and threw it into the fire, saying, "Puddlemere United Quidditch Club." Then she stepped into the flames and started spinning, passing other fireplaces where she had glimpses of other wizarding homes, and somewhere which looked suspiciously like Diagon Alley, before she spotted the others, and then several hands reached out to pull her out of the fireplace.

They were all stood in a hall, which was lined with half a dozen fireplaces. At one end were a set of double doors, which Mia guess was the main entrance, due to the volume of people walking through them towards an archway in the opposite wall, beyond which Mia could see a Quidditch pitch.

Harry stepped out of the fire behind them. "Everyone arrived safe and sound?"

Ginny did a quick head count. "All present and correct," she nodded. She began handing out tickets to her family, Chlo, Scorpius and Hugo, and Mia dug in her pocket for hers, Mac and Ruby's tickets.

"James and Chlo, you're going to get left behind if you don't stop sucking each other's faces off," Harry grinned as they joined the queue for the entrance of the pitch. James and Chlo were still stood by the fireplace, James' hands wound into Chlo's hair, kissing.

"Sisters," Mac sighed, averting his eyes. "Who'd have them?"

"Not me," Mia grinned.

"Yeah, you're lucky," Mac said. "Two big sisters can be a nightmare sometimes."

"I agree," Ruby said. "Although I've got a brother and a sister."

"Well, I've got heaps of auxillary elder siblings in the Weasleys... and the Quidditch team," Mia said.

They reached the archway into the stadium, and the wizard on the gates checked their tickets before ushering them through. The Quidditch stadium was much larger than Quidditch pitch at Hogwarts, with rows of seats rising up high on all sides. They'd come out on the edge of the pitch, and far away in the centre, Mia could see the two Quidditch teams, England in white and Japan in red.

As Harry and Ginny debated the merits of by-the-centre-line-but-lower-down vs. higher-up-but-closer-to-the-goal-hoops, Mia saw Will striding away from his team. He hadn't changed much in the year since she'd last seen him; perhaps his shoulders were slightly broader, and his hair a shade darker, but he was still unmistakably Will.

"Hi Mia," he grinned, hugging her. "I'm glad you could come – are you looking forward to it?"

"Yeah," Mia nodded enthusiastically.

"Congrats for winning the Quidditch cup, by the way," Will said. "That's something I never managed."

"It wasn't just me..." Mia said. "In fact, I was rubbish in that last game."

"Nonsense," Will told her firmly. "Being beaten by a set of Chasers who are better than you doesn't make you rubbish, and Hufflepuff's front three are notoriously tight."

He moved away to shake hands with Mr and Mrs Potter, and then say hi to James, who'd been his team mate back when he was still at school.

"See you all in the function room for drinks afterwards?" Will asked. "It's players and invited guests only."

They all assured him they'd be there, and then Will hurried away to re-join his team, whilst they all quickly found seats near the England goal hoops; the match was about to begin.

* * *

A/N: Two chapters for the price of one today - aren't you lucky? I aim to move to a more sustainable two-chapters per week, so with any luck we'll be all done by Christmas. Enjoy! ~ Nat


	3. Chapter Three: Japan vs England

Chapter Three

Japan vs. England

Mia had barely settled herself in her seat between Ruby and Mac when the commentator was introducing the teams:

'The Japanese: Himura, Hayashi, Hisakawa, Kimura, Takenaka, Yamada and Sato! And the English: Snell, Wright, Shaw, Thompson, Weller, Darrow and Masters!"

Mia saw that the commentator using a magical megaphone like the one Mac used to commentate Hogwarts Quidditch matches; instead she had her wand held to her throat, presumably using the sonorous charm that Danielle had used to make herself heard last year at the Keeper tryouts. The two teams mounted their brooms and then kicked off hard on the whistle – they were off.

And it's England captain Snell in possession, passes to Shaw, to Wright, Shaw, Wright, Snell-"

The play was fast and furious, the England Chasers passing the Quaffle to each other quicker even than Mia had ever seen Hailey, Lovell and Creevey, the Hufflepuff Chasers, play. One of the Japanese Beaters – Mia wasn't sure which – hit a Bludger at the England captain, Snell, and she dropped the Quaffle. It was caught up by one of the Japanese Chasers, Hayashi, and play resumed.

If Mia had thought the England Chasers were good, they were nothing compared to Japan's front three. Himura, Hayashi and Hisakawa were flying so fast they were just red blurs on the pitch. The commentator barely had time to shout their names, before they'd passed the Quaffle on. Within five minutes, they'd already scored three times.

"Snell, Wright, Snell, Shaw, intercepted by Himura, Hisakawa, Himura, Hayashi, and it's Japan's Hisakawa heading for goal!"

Mia watched as Will prepared to block the goal. Even though he had yet to stop Japan scoring, Mia could tell he was playing a lot better than he had been just a year ago. Now, as Hisakawa flew towards him, Mia watched carefully to see how he tackled this latest attack on goal. Hisakawa shot left, and Will dived left too, just managing to hit the Quaffle out of the way. The cheer from the crowd was louder than that for any of the Japanese goals; this being a home game, most of the crowd were supporting England. Mia and the Potters and their guests cheered loudest of all.

As the Japanese Chaser flew down to retrieve the Quaffle, Mia looked along the line to her left – Ruby, Lily and Hugo, all stood up cheering; Scorpius, intently watching the seekers; Al, tracking the progress of a Bludger across the pitch; and James and Chlo, James watching intently, and Chlo snuggled against his arm, a look of mild disinterest on her face. On her other side, Mac was mouthing along with the commentator, obviously incapable of merely watching a game anymore; and Harry and Ginny on Mac's other side, comparing predictions on the outcome of the match.

Play resumed, with the three England Chasers putting on a burst of speed to score barely thirty seconds after the Quaffle had been returned to playing height. Up above, the two seekers, Masters and Sato, were circling, keeping close to each other, wanting to be on an equal footing whenever the Snitch made an appearance.

"Japan in possession: Himura, Hayashi, Hisakura, Hayashi, Hisakura, Hiumura heading for goal!"

Mia watched the Japanese Chaser, Himura, speeding like a bullet up the pitch, dodging players and Bludgers alike. He was small and light, and nothing more than a red blur on his broom, which Mia guessed had to be a Firebolt Blue from the speed he was going. Even Will stood no chance against him, and Himura scored easily.

In the next half-hour, England scored two more goals, but Japan pulled ahead, with Himura scoring twice as many goals as his team mates combined. Will did stop several goals, but Japan's assault on goal was unrelenting, and they pulled further ahead.

"Himura, Hayashi, Himura, Hisakura, Hayashi, Himura, Hayashi, Hisakura, Himura, Himura heading for goal! Can Darrow stop him? No – Japan scores! Japan lead 170 – 30!"

"They're wiping the floor with England!" Mac yelled into Mia's ear. "The only way England could ever win is if they get the Snitch right now, before Japan get 150 points up. No offence to your mate Darrow, but he's really no match for Japan's front three."

"Japan are amazing..." Ruby said, on Mia's other side. "I wish I could fly like that."

"They've seen the Snitch!" Scorpius shouted, pointing. Sure enough, the two seekers, Sato and Masters, were diving, hands outstretched, speeding towards a tiny glint of gold, barely visible at the foot of the Japanese goal hoops. As they sped closer to the ground, the entire crowd were on tenterhooks – since Japan were only 140 points up, so whoever caught the Snitch now would win the match. The two seekers were neck and neck – it was anyone's guess as to who'd get there first.

"Japan have done it," Mac predicted, watching intently, and he was right. Tomo Sato, the Japanese Seeker, leant so far forward on her broom Mia was worried she was going to fall off, but she didn't. As her fingers closed around the Snitch, a roar went up from the crowd, despite their disappointment – Japan _had_ played well.

"TOMO SATO CATCHES THE SNITCH AND JAPAN WIN! FINAL SCORE: 220 TO 30!" the commentator yelled.

* * *

Later, in the function room, Lily and Ruby went giggling over to ask the Japanese Chasers for their autographs. Harry and Ginny were walking around greeting various official looking people, and looking thoroughly bored in doing so. Scorpius was deep in conversation with both the Japanese and English seekers, Will having introduced him to them, and Chlo was sat on James' lap on a chair, the two of them completely oblivious to anyone else. Mia was stood with Al, Mac and Hugo, who were daring each other to try and get their hands on some Firewhisky, when Will came over to talk to her.

"Sorry you had to see me on a bad day," he told her. "I was rubbish."

"No you weren't," Mia said, grinning as she turned Will's own words back on him. "Being beaten by a set of Chasers who are better than you doesn't make you rubbish."

"Touché," Will laughed. "Yeah, Japan are pretty amazing, and half of the guys who were playing today are in their national team."

Lily and Ruby came back over, still giggling.

"I thought you scorned at anyone who turned into a giggling wreck around boys," Mia sighed.

"Yeah, but these aren't just any boys," Lily grinned.

"Yeah, they're Quidditch players," Ruby said.

"But there are loads of boys at school who are Quidditch players," Mia protested.

"Not proper ones," Lily said. "Did you know, Himura's only fifteen? Only the same age as like Al and Scorp, and he's playing like that. He said hopefully he'll be playing for Japan's proper team soon, since the other two Chasers already are, and Himura's way better than them."

"I bet he didn't actually say he was better than them," Will grinned.

"Well...no..." Lily said. "But he is. I'm going to go and tell James – Himura's nearly three years younger than him, but he's way better."  
"I'm not sure he'll really appreciate that ..." Mia said, glancing over to where James and Chlo were sat, still kissing, but Lily had already gone.

Will laughed. "Just the same Lily I remember from a year ago," he said.

"Lily's just Lily," Ruby agreed.

They all watched Lily walk up to James and Chlo, and could just about make out James' words as he looked up at his sister: "Go away, Lily. Can't a guy snog his girlfriend in peace around here?"

An hour later, Harry and Ginny decided it was time to leave. Lily was sent to fetch James and Chlo, who still hadn't moved from their chair. She came back reporting that they were ignoring her, and Harry and Ginny looked at each other and grinned. The two of them walked over to where James and Chlo were sat, and everyone averted their eyes as they two started kissing. It had the desired effect – within seconds James and Chlo had broken apart, and James was looking up at his parents in disgust.

"Seriously, guys?" he said.

Harry and Ginny both laughed. "We were just taking a leaf out of your book," Harry grinned. "Come on, son – time to go home."

* * *

The next morning, two owls, both bearing letters arrived for Mia. The first was an official looking tawny owl, bearing a letter with the Hogwarts crest, and the second Mia recognised as Venus, Lily's owl. She opened Lily's letter first.

'Mia – someone took a picture of Mum and Dad kissing at the Quidditch match yesterday, and it made it into the Prophet. I've sent you a copy – gross, isn't it? Dad's threatening to frame it and stick it up in the kitchen – eugh! Also, Hogwarts letters just came, and James has been made Quidditch Captain. See you soon – Lily.'

Mia looked at the newspaper cutting which Lily had stuffed in the envelope. It showed Harry and Ginny kissing, with James and Chlo looking thoroughly disgusted in the background. Wishing that Wizarding pictures didn't move so that she wouldn't have to watch them kissing for all eternity, Mia shoved the cutting back in the envelope and read her Hogwarts letter:

'Dear Miss Dursley, all third years will require _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Three_ , and _Intermediate Transfiguration_. In addition, for your chosen options, you will require: _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ by Newt Scamander; _Ancient Runes Made Easy_ by Laurenzoo; and _Wizarding Britain: Social and Political Thought_ by Nicholas Fortesque. May I also take this opportunity to remind you that, as a third year, you will be a "big sibling" for a new first year student, and you will attend a meeting to find out what will be expected of you, and to meet your "little sibling" on the first morning of term. Third years are permitted to visit Hogsmede village at certain weekends – please give the enclosed form to your parent/guardian to sign.'

Mia looked at the second piece of parchment in her envelope – the Hogsemde permission form. She'd almost forgotten that this was the year they could start going on Hogsmede weekends. Yes, she thought her third year at Hogwarts was shaping up to be a very good one indeed.


	4. Chapter Four: Back to School

Chapter Four

Back To School

Mia met Lily, Hugo and Louis on Platform 9¾ on the morning of the 31st of August. As much as she'd enjoyed her summer holidays, Mia was now ready to go back to Hogwarts; back to the castle and Gryffindor tower and Quidditch and all her lessons. The four of them said goodbye to their parents and then found an empty compartment on the train.

"So..." Louis said, once they were all settled. "Hogsmede weekends this year."  
"Yeah, they're gonna be awesome," Hugo grinned. "Butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks, stocking up on sweets in Honeydukes, visiting Uncle George in Wheezes..."

"I vote we should get Mac to show us around first weekend," Lily said. "He can give us like the grand tour."

"Yeah, Mac'll love that," Louis grinned.

"What will I love?" Mac stuck his head round the door at the sound of his name.

"Showing us all around Hogsmede, on the first Hogsmede weekend," Mia said.

"You will, won't you?" Lily asked.

"Sure," Mac shrugged. "Sounds fun. And my services are free... providing I don't have to buy my own butterbeer."  
"I'm sure someone will take pity on you and buy you a butterbeer," Hugo grinned.

Mac came into the compartment. "Mind if I join you?" he asked, and then, not waiting for an answer, squashed in next to Lily and Mia. "Look what I got for my birthday," he said, putting a muggle-looking contraption down on the table between them.

"What is it?" Lily asked.

"It's a badge maker," Mac grinned. "It makes badges."

"Well duh..." Louis said, and then yelped as Mac kicked him under the table.

"Chlo helped me figure out how to make it run on magic rather than batteries," Mac continued, as if they'd been no interruption. "So I can make heaps of badges. Look, I already made this one." He pointed at a Hufflepuff badge on his chest. "Oh yeah, and I made you and me matching badges, Louis."

Mac reached into his pocket and pulled out two badges. He handed one of them to Louis, who looked at it and then grinned.

"What is it?" Lily asked. Mac showed her and Mia his badge, which bore the words 'I dated Dove Ackerley'. They both laughed. Louis and Mac had both dated the Ravenclaw girl last year, and Mac had often joked about making them badges.

"You should make something like 'I am inseparable from Frankie' and 'I am inseparable from Kieran' for Kieran and Frankie," Hugo said, looking thoroughly disgusted. "Did you see them on the platform? They had their tongues down each other's throats! Gross!"

"Why were you watching them if you think it's gross?" Mac grinned.

"I wasn't – they were just there," Hugo protested. "It was hard not to look! I think it's all gross."

"So, no girls you like, then?" Lily asked.

"No," Hugo said firmly.

The door to the compartment opened, and Zoe and Cassie came in. Mia fully expected things to be awkward between Louis and Zoe in light of their recent break-up, so she quickly asked the Hufflepuff girls if they'd had good summers.

"Pretty good," Zoe nodded, as Cassie shrugged,

"Alright."

The two of them sat down at the next table, and, after a few minutes Mac went over to show them his new badge maker, leaving Lily and Mia with much more room. As the train sped further northwards, they were joined by a handful of fellow third years, who all belonged to what Mac called 'the gang'. Someone started a game of exploding snap, and talk turned to Hogsmede weekends. Half a dozen more people decided to join Mac's 'tour', and he declared that he'd have to start charging if it grew any bigger.

Around the time they crossed the border into Scotland, it started raining, and although it had stopped by the time they reached Hogsemde station, the wind had picked up and it was blowing a positive gale. Mia and her friends jumped out of the train and dashed to the fleet of horseless carridges which was waiting to take them up to the school, all having great difficulty staying on their feet.

"I wouldn't like to be crossing the lake in this!" Mac shouted as the wind slammed the carriage door shut behind him. "Think about the waves!"

First years traditionally arrived at Hogwarts by sailing across the lake, which would probably resemble an angry ocean in this weather. Mia wondered if any weather had ever made it too dangerous to cross. Even the carriages felt less safe than usual this year – they were rocking about far more than usual as they headed up to the castle.

Once they were seated at the Gryffindor table, which was laden with dozens of empty dishes and serving platters, Mia realised she was extremely hungry. To her left, Hugo had his wand out, and was tapping one of the silver platters surreptitiously.

"You know your mother would tell you food's one of the five exemptions to Gamps law of Transfiguration?" James said, as he walked past them, Chlo on his arm, on his way to the other end of the table.

"I didn't want to conjure it, just summon it from the kitchens," Hugo called after his cousin's retreating back, as Alice, Frankie and Kieran sat down opposite them. "If you two are going to snog the whole way through dinner, then I'm moving," Hugo warned.

"We won't snog the _whole way_ though dinner," Kieran grinned.

"Yeah, but dinner hasn't even started yet," Frankie said, turning to Kieran.

"No, I second Hugo's proposal," Alice said, clearly disgusted by Kieran and Frankie's public display of affection. "And anyway, Dad'll go ape at you if you snog all the way through the sorting."

The doors into the Great Hall opened, and Hagrid, who was the gamekeeper and Care of Magical Creatures Professor, came in, followed by forty or so extremely windswept looking first years. Professor Longbottom followed, with a three-legged stool and the patched, faded, Sorting Hat. He placed the Hat on the stool in front of the first years, and the whole Hall waited expectantly, until a mouth-like rip near the brim of the hat opened, and it began to sing:

 _Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor_

 _These are the houses four_

 _And it's up to me to Sort you now_

 _Though you may not understand how_

 _There have long been rumours going round_

 _Sometimes, in practice, it has been found_

 _That some houses turn out more dark than light_

 _That your life's path could be determined tonight_

 _But all houses have some bad, some good_

 _Just as in all people I'm sure we could_

 _Find traits we like, and some we don't_

 _So determine you? – you know it won't!_

 _Each house is comprised of individuals_

 _And if the prejudices remain residual_

 _It is for you to set the stage_

 _For what defines your house in this modern age_

 _Gryffindors are brave; yes, that's true_

 _But they also can be reckless too_

 _It is said they've nerve and always dare_

 _But can you not see the foolhardy there?_

 _It is said a Hufflepuff's your truest friend_

 _They'll stick with you til the very end_

 _But what if their loyalty is misplaced?_

 _Will they stand by their choice or be disgraced?_

 _In Ravenclaw there are those keen of mind_

 _But will their intellect leave some behind?_

 _When knowledge is valued, for knowledge's sake_

 _What of those who can't reach the stake?_

 _Slytherins are defined by great ambition_

 _A desire to see themselves in first position_

 _But what if this impedes other's rights?_

 _Let it always be said: Slytherins fight fair fights_

 _Don't think I only highlight the bad_

 _I just want to ensure fair warning you've had_

 _Each house contains both bad and good_

 _And whenever you are, you always should_

 _Have the chance to be the best you can_

 _That, after all, was the Founder's plan_

As the rip closed, the hall broke into applause and Hugo grinned, "So, we're reckless, are we?"

"You know what they say," Kieran shrugged across the table. "'Only Gryffindors rush in where angels fear to tread'."

They all laughed as Professer Longbottom unrolled a scroll and told the first years that when he called their name, they should sit on the stool and place the Sorting Hat on their head.

"Ash, Amelia."

Amelia Ash, a red-haired girl who had arms which looked disproportionally long for her body, stepped forward and placed the hat on her head. After a brief hesitation, the hat shouted, 'RAVENCLAW', and Amelia went to sit at the Ravenclaw table, which had broken out into applause.

"Blake, Michael."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Blane, Megan."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"C'mon, we need a Gryffindor," Lily muttered, as Professor Longbottom called,

"Boone, Ivy."

Ivy Boone, a tiny girl with long dark plaits, sat down on the stool and placed the Sorting Hat on her head. The hat spent a full minute deliberation with itself, before declaring her a Gryffindor.

As the sorting drew on, most of the older students started to get bored. Mia could hear Hugo's stomach rumbling loudly next to her, and on her other side, Lily and Alice were engaged in a game of 'guess the house'; Alice was winning, three points to two.

"Jarvis, Rachel."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Jordan, Jordan."

A ripple of laughter went around the Great Hall as a dark-skinned boy with an afro approached the Hat, blushing furiously. "Is his name really Jordan Jordan?" Lily giggled.

The boy sat down on the stool and put the Hat on his head, forcing it over his hair with great difficulty. Mia could see his lips forming the angry words: "My _name's_ JJ."

"GRYFFINDOR!" the Hat shouted, after a moment's deliberation, and JJ came and joined the Gryffindor table.

"Knight, Matilda."

A black girl with her hair in dozens of tiny braids walked forward. The Sorting Hat had barely touched her head when it screamed, "GRYFFINDOR!" and Matilda came and sat opposite JJ at the Gryffindor table.

"Laiken, Simon."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"That's a lot of Gryffindors in a row," Lily observed.

"Statistical cluster," Kieran shrugged, as 'Leopold, Deanna' became a Slytherin, thus breaking the run of Gryffindors.

"Lyle, Gabriella."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"MacMillan, Archibald."

"Archibald?" Lily spluttered, as a blonde boy walked over to the stool and put the Sorting Hat on his head. "What kind of a name is Archibald?"

"RAVENCLAW!"  
"Mitchell, Seth."

"Oh, come on!" Hugo sighed, his stomach giving another very loud rumble, as Seth became a Hufflepuff.

"Payne, Emma."

A pale, blonde girl, who looked completely terrified, walked up to the Sorting Hat, and sat down. Everyone waited as one minute passed, and then two, before the hat declared, "GRYFFINDOR!" Looking very relieved, Emma hurried over to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Matilda.

"Powers, Harriet."

"SLYTHERIN!"

The line of waiting first years was dwindling now, and the chatter in the Great Hall was growing as the older students grew more hungry and bored. Finally, with, 'Webb, Michael' being sorted into Hufflepuff, the sorting concluded. Professor McGonnagal stood up.

"Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts," she said. "Let the feast begin."

She clapped her hands, and the platters and serving dishes in front of them filled with food. As one, the whole school tucked in.


	5. Chapter Five: Little Siblings

Chapter Five

Little Siblings

The next morning after breakfast, the first and third years stayed behind in the Great Hall whilst the other students went off to lessons, so Professor Cooke could tell them more about the Big Sibling – Little Sibling scheme, and then their Heads of House could match them up.

"The Big Sibling – Little Sibling scheme is to help first years settle in, and to allow third-years to take on some responsibility," Professor Cooke explained. "There will be several formal events throughout the year which you have to attend – the 5th of November bonfire and the Christmas party are the first of these – but what we found out last year is that the scheme works best when it's informal – when third years make an effort to regularly check up on their Little Siblings, and the first years take their problems or worries to their Big Siblings. If you have any problems or questions about the scheme, then the person to speak to would be your Head of House. Now, the Heads of House are going to come and pair you up. First two lessons are cancelled today, so you can get to know each other, and third years – perhaps you want to give your Little Siblings a tour of the castle."

The heads of house came and walked up and down tables, pairing up the first and third years. At the Gryffindor table, Professor Longbottom had started with the boys.

"Right, let's see... how about Oscar and Oscar?" he motioned to Oscar Peakes, and a new first year boy, also called Oscar.

Mia, Lily and Hugo paid little attention until Professor Longbottom came over to them, with the boy with the afro who was called Jordan Jordan following him.

"Hugo, this is JJ – he'll be your Little Brother," he said.

"I thought your name was Jordan," Hugo said, getting up.

"Well, yeah, technically," JJ said. "But I've always been called JJ."

"Want a tour, then?" Hugo asked.

"Sure," JJ said, and the two boys left the Great Hall together.

"Lily, I'd like you to be Matilda's Big Sister," Professor Longbottom said, gesturing at the black girl who'd got sorted directly after JJ.

"Oh my gosh, I want to see everything!" she bubbled, coming over to Lily. "I think it's like _amazing_ how all the portraits move, and the staircases too, and is it true there are secret passages, and stuff?"

Lily grinned. "Let me guess, you're muggle born?" she asked Matilda.

Matilda nodded enthusiastically. "I always knew I could do weird things, but I never knew it was _magic_."

Lily laughed. "Alright, I'll give you the grand tour."

"Mia, I'd like you to be Emma's Big Sister," Professor Longbottom said, nodding at a pale blonde girl who was sat by herself halfway up the table. Mia got up and went to sit next to Emma.

"Hi Emma, I'm Mia," she said. "Are you okay?"

There was a momentary silence, followed by a sharp intake of breath, before Emma looked up at Mia with her wide grey eyes and said, "no."

"What's wrong?" Mia asked.

"I want to go home," Emma said in a small voice. "I miss my mum."

"Is this your first time away from home?" Mia asked, and Emma nodded. "It can be scary going away from home for the first time."

"I only found out about the Wizarding World two months ago," Emma said. "I'm sure Hogwarts is great and the lessons will be all interesting and stuff, but..."

"But you're worried it's not for you," Mia supplied. "I'm muggle-born too, but since my birthday's October, I had a bit longer to get used to it than you did."

There was a momentary silence, and Mia looked around. The Great Hall was empty now – all the other students had paired up and gone to show the first years around the castle.

"How about I show you around?" Mia suggested, looking back at Emma. The younger girl was crying. "Hey, don't cry." She tried to put her arm around Emma, but she pulled away.

"I want to go home!" she sobbed. "I don't want to be here! I want my mum! I want to go home!" Her words were coming out in sharp sobs, and now she was gasping for breath.

"Emma, you've gotta breathe," Mia said, but it was clear she couldn't; she'd worked herself up into too much of a state. Mia got up and ran out into the Entrance Hall to get help.

Professor Cooke was just heading down the steps which led to the dungeons.

"Professor Cooke, I need help!" she called. "It's my Little Sister – she's crying and she's not breathing properly. I think she's having a panic attack!"

Professor Cooke followed Mia back into the Great Hall. "What's her name?" she asked as they approached the Gryffindor table.

"Emma," Mia told her, and she and Professor Cooke sat down either side of her.

"Emma, you need to take some deep breaths, sweetheart," Professor Cooke said.

"I want my mum," Emma sobbed, her breath still coming in gasps.

"I'm sure you do, sweetheart, but you need to concentrate on your breathing right now, and then we can talk about it, okay? Take some deep breaths now, that's it; in... and out..."

Gradually, Emma slowed her breathing back to normal, and mostly stopped crying, still sobbing occasionally. "I...want to go... home," she told Professor Cooke. "I don't belong here. I want to go back to the muggle world."

"I know it feels like that at the moment," Professor Cooke said, "but I really think you should give it some time."  
Emma shook her head frantically. "No – I want to go home!"

It looked like she was about to work herself up into a state again, so Professor Cooke waited until she'd stopped before she spoke. "Sometimes, the things we regret most are the things we don't do," she said. "And I'm pretty sure if you went home now you'd regret it. No one's going to force you to stay here, but I really think you ought to give it a few days – a week, maybe – and see how you feel. Do you think you could do that?"

Slowly, Emma nodded.

"Mia, why don't you give Emma a tour?" Professor Cooke suggested. "Start with the grounds – maybe gets some fresh air. And then, Emma, what have you got third period?"

Emma consulted her timetable. "Potions," she said.

"That's with me," Professor Cooke said. "Mia, if you bring Emma down to my office at break, then we can all have a cup of tea, or hot chocolate, or something."

Mia nodded, and then stood up. "The grounds are great when the weather's like this... not so much the rest of the year..." she told Emma.

"Are we allowed to go outside whenever we like?" Emma asked as they opened the big double front doors, in a voice which still trembled slightly from crying recently.

"Yeah, just not after curfew," Mia told her. "Which is eight o'clock for first and second years – you have to be back in Gryffindor tower by then. And you have to stay within the grounds... and not go in the Forbidden Forest, because it's... forbidden."

As Mia and Emma walked down the lawn towards the lake they heard a yell of "Mia! Mia! Wait up!"

Looking around, Mia saw Lily running down the lawn towards her, her Little Sister, Matilda, following.

"Where have you been?" Lily asked, panting for breath as she and Matilda caught up with Mia and Emma.

"Just in the Great Hall, talking," Mia said, glancing at Emma, who gave her a slight smile. If Mia had been homesick (not that she'd ever had the chance too, what with her friends in her face the whole time) she wouldn't have wanted everyone knowing about it. Perhaps that was what she should do – make sure Emma was so busy she didn't have the time to be homesick. "Where have you been?" she asked Lily now.

It was Matilda who answered. "We went to the basement and the dungeons, and we met the Slytherin house ghost, and he's soooo spooky," she said.

Mia grinned at the younger girl's enthusiasm.

"We thought we'd come out here before we went upstairs," Lily explained. "Hey, maybe we could go round with you?"

"Sure," Mia shrugged.

"I love it here!" Matilda said, stretching out her arms and spinning around. "So much space and green! Oh my gosh, can we go explore that forest?"

"No," Lily said firmly. "That's the Forbidden Forest. You'll get detention if you go in there."

The four of them went down to the edge of the lake, and Lily and Mia pointed out sites of interest – Hagrid's cabin, the greenhouses, the Quidditch pitch... As they headed back inside, the corridors were full of students moving from their first lesson to their second one.

"We haven't really got time to do the whole castle..." Mia mused.

"No, that'd take all day," Lily agreed.

"So maybe if we just do the main classrooms... Charms, Transfiguration, Defence, the Histories..."

"And the Inter-House Common Room," Lily added.

"So... is it true there are secret passages?" Matilda asked, as they started up the marble staircase.

"Heaps," Lily nodded. "Most are useful, some... not so much. Then there are the ones out of the castle-"

"But they're all sealed off now," Mia put in.

In the corridor which led to the Inter-House Common Room, they said hi to Andy Cattermole and Derek Downer, two Ravenclaw boys who were showing their Little Brothers around.

"This is the Inter-House Common Room," Lily said, opening the door. "This is where everyone from any house can all hang out."

"You know, some of us are trying to work here, and would appreciate it if you kids didn't keep barging in," said a voice which Mia recognised as belonging to Josh Young, a sixth year Gryffindor who seemed to have it in for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, James in particular. Sure enough, he was sat with a friend over by a window.

"He hasn't even had any lessons yet, how can he be working?" Lily grumbled as they left the room.

After a whistle-stop tour of all the major Hogwart's classrooms, the four of them parted at the start of break; Lily went to show Matilda some of the secret passages, and Mia took Emma down to Professor Cooke's office.

"How are you feeling now, Emma?" Professor Cooke asked, once she'd got them all cups of tea.

"Alright," Emma nodded.

"Think you can give Hogwarts a go?"

"I think so..." Emma said.

"Good," Professor Cooke smiled. "And if you're feeling homesick, there are lots of people you can talk to – me, Mia, Professor Longbottom..."  
For the rest of break, Professor Cooke kept Mia and Emma entertained with stories of her own time at Hogwarts, just after the war. When the bell rang, Mia jumped up.

"I'm going to be late for Transfiguration!" she said.

"I'll write you a note to give to Professor Duncan to explain why you're late," Professor Cooke said. She scribbled a quick note, and then hurried off to Transfiguration – Professor Duncan was one teacher she didn't want to cross.


	6. Chapter Six: First Day

Chapter Six

First Day

Mia was almost ten minutes late by the time she reached the fifth floor. The door to the Transfiguration classroom was open, and when Mia walked in, every head turned to look at her.

"Miss Dursley, what time do you call this?" Professor Duncan asked scathingly.

"Sorry I'm late, Professor," Mia said. "I've got a note from Professor Cooke."

Professor Duncan snatched the scrap of parchment from Mia. "Very well," he said. "Go and sit down, and stop wasting more of my lesson."

Mia did as she was told, walking to the back of the classroom where her friends had saved her a seat, between Lily and Hugo.

"Now, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted," Professor Duncan said.

"Where were you?" Lily asked in a whisper.

"Showing Emma around the dungeons – we lost track of time, so Professor Cooke wrote me a note," Mia explained. It was most of the truth. "How did you get on with your little brother, Hugo?"

"JJ? – he's alright," Hugo shrugged. "I showed him my secret passage."

Lily, Mia and Louis all groaned. Last year, Hugo had been determined to explore a secret passage in the middle of the night, which had resulted in them all getting detention when Professor Duncan had caught them out of bed after hours.

"Well, it sounds like you guys all had a much better time with your little siblings than I had with mine," Louis sighed.

"Hey, you've got that Archibald kid, haven't you?" Hugo grinned.

"Oh no, Archie, if you please," Louis grimaced. "And you know what the first thing he wanted me to show him was? The _library_."

"Well, he is a Ravenclaw," Lily shrugged.

"Yeah, but not all Ravenclaws are obsessed with books, you know," Louis protested.

"But some are, and he is," Mia said.

"Unless you four would like to spend your evening in detention, I suggest you stop talking and concentrate on Transfiguration," Professor Duncan said, cutting through their whispered conversation. For the rest of the double period the four of them paid the lesson their full attention.

At lunch, Lily, Mia and Hugo sat opposite James, Fred and Chris. A little way up the table, Mia could see Emma sat with Matilda. She gave Emma a thumbs up, with her eyebrows raised quizzically, and Emma returned the thumbs up with a small smile.

"So, having fun with your little siblings?" James grinned.

"They're alright," Hugo shrugged. "At least we got to miss first two lessons."

"If only it was third and fourth," Lily sighed. "We just had double Transfiguration."

"Ahh... a double dose of Duncan," Chris said knowingly. "I don't know why these two trolls took Transfiguration NEWT."

"Because we need it for our careers, duh," Fred said.

"What do you want to do when you leave Hogwarts?" Mia asked.

"I'm gonna work with Dad in the shop," Fred said. "It was always supposed to be a Fred and George business, and now it can be again."

"I'm still not sure..." James said. "I'm still thinking about being an Auror... maybe... Uncle George says I'm always welcome at the shop, so maybe I'll work there for a bit, do some travelling... get things figured out..."

"If you did want to be an Auror, you'd have no problem getting in," Lily grinned. "Dad could just pull some strings..."

James shook his head. "If I get accepted onto the Auror training program, I want it to be on my own merit, not because my dad's head of the Auror office – I'd want him to stay right out of it, Uncle Ron too."

"What about you, Chris?" Mia asked. "What do you want to do after Hogwarts?"

"Muggle relations," Chris said. "Although I'm not quite sure what yet – I think maybe it'd be cool to get a job in the Office of Muggle Born Integration, and be the one who goes around telling Muggle Borns about the magical world."

After lunch, the third year Gryffindors had Charms with the Slytherins. Slytherin house contained Ruby McLaggan and Theo Nott, with whom the Gryffindors were quite friendly with, and also Ilonka Kallous, who was Lily's arch-enemy. Although the two of them had called a shaky truce at the end of last year, in order to attend a party for a mutual friend, it was obvious that truce wasn't in abeyance today.

"I'd be completely mortified if it were my parents snogging who'd made the front page of the Prophet," Ilonka was saying as she came down the corridor, flanked by a gang of Slytherin girls whom Mac called her sheep. "Of course, since the Potters haven't done anything particularly newsworthy for over twenty years, I guess they have to resort to making out in public to keep in the public eye."

"They weren't kissing so someone would photograph them, idiot," Lily growled.

"Lily, leave it," Hugo sighed. "She's just trying to wind you up."  
"Well, why doesn't she pick on someone else for a change?" Lily grumbled. "And they didn't make the front page."

"She picks on you because she knows she'll get a reaction," Hugo said. "If you stopped reacting, I bet she'd get bored and stop."

"Well, it's easier said than done..."Lily said, glaring at Ilonka and, almost subconsciously, Mia thought, reaching towards her pocket for her wand.

Professor Flitwick opened the door, and the class filed inside. Mia and Hugo were careful to steer Lily and Hugo were careful to steer Lily to a seat as far away from Ilonka as possible. Mia was looking forward to Charms more than she had been Transfiguration – Charms was easier, and the teacher much nicer.

Today, they were working on charming objects to walk and dance, which they'd started in the couple of weeks between the end of exams and the end of term last year. The third years were finding that it was considerably harder than levitating objects, mainly due to the necessity to give the object legs first. They were working on matchboxes at the moment, and Theo Nott's was already strolling around the table on six sturdy legs, whilst the rest of the class were still having difficulty producing legs which would support the weight of the matchbox (Hugo's matchbox legs were so thin they snapped whenever it tried to stand up), or once which were evenly spaced enough (Mia's matchbox legs only seemed to want to grow on one side, so they would push up futilely, whilst the other side stayed firmly on the table) or, in some cases, produce legs at all.

"How do you do that?!" Lily demanded of Theo as they left the room at the end of the lesson – Theo had progressed to making a Galleon walk around his desk, whilst Lily had only managed to produce two legs which strained under the weight of the match box for a few seconds before collapsing, exhausted.

"I concentrate," Theo shrugged. "I don't fume over how annoying Ilonka is."

Lily poked her tongue out at him, and Theo grinned.

"What've you guys got next?" Ruby asked, as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Modern History," Mia told her. "You?"

"Transfiguration," Ruby sighed.

Lily laughed as the five of them parted ways on the third floor. "See you later."

Lily, Mia and Hugo met up with Louis in Modern History of Magic.

"How was Charms?" he asked, as they sat down in their usual seats in the third row.

"Hard," Lily sighed, and then the room fell silent as Professor Nilsson closed the door behind the last stragglers and turned to face the class.

"Welcome back, third years," he said briskly. "Your course this year jumps around in time a lot, so as to fill in some gaps before we embark upon the OWL syllabus next year, which is mostly focussed on the Second War. So, up until Christmas we will be studying Wizarding Britain since 1997, and then after Christmas we'll be on a whistle-stop tour of 1900 to 1960 – basically from where Professor Binns' syllabus finishes up until just before Voldermort's rise to power. So, before we start, could someone just remind me what years you were all born?"

"2007-2008," Lily said.

"So, a little over ten years after the end of the war," Professor Nilsson nodded. "Alright, we'll start with a brief timeline of major events, beginning with the two-and-a-half years between Victory Day and the Millennium, known as the Reconstruction. Quills out, please."

* * *

That evening, the gang congregated in the Inter-House Common Room, and Mac demonstrated how his badge maker worked. He soon had a long list of requests for badges – House badges, band badges, 'I love my owl' badges...

"How come we've only had four lessons today, and we've already for four lots of homework?" Hugo sighed.

"Because every single teacher gave us some?" Mia returned. "I'm not even going to look at Binns' stuff yet – I'll get all confused in dates and stuff."  
"The Modern History shouldn't take long," Lily said. "We've just gotta find five things that happened in the year that we were born. One: I was born. Two: Hugo was born..."

"You can't write that," Louis grinned. "They have to be things that are important to the Wizarding World in general. Did you get lots of Charms homework? – Professor Longbottom didn't give us any."  
"Well good for you," Hugo scowled. "We've got to read two chapters from the Standard Book of Spells."  
The door of the Inter-House Common Room opened, and Emma and Matilda came in, looking thoroughly windswept.

"Where have you two been?" Lily demanded, calling over to the two first years.

"For a walk in the grounds," Matilda said, walking confidently over to the group of third years, Emma following more slowly. "I love it here! We went down to the edge of the Forest, but then that big man who sailed across the lake with us-"

"Hagrid," Lily put in.

"Yeah, him – he came and told us not to go further, but then he showed us his pumpkin patch, and those pumpkins are already huge and he says they're gonna be used for Halloween and I can't wait, and – and oh my gosh Emma, it's ten to eight and we better get back to Gryffindor tower, or we're gonna be in trouble, and my mum says trouble's not a very good place to be, especially not right at the start of term. Bye guys."

Matilda hurried off, Emma following.

Louis laughed. "I think you're gonna have your hands full with her this year, Lil."


	7. Chapter Seven: Beings and Beasts

Chapter Seven

Beings and Beasts

The next day, Lily and Mia sat with Emma and Matilda at lunch.

"We had Transfiguration this morning, and Potions again, and Modern History of Magic," Matilda told Lily and Mia excitedly. "And Modern History – is that what you guys call it? – sounds really exciting, but it was kinda freaky too, because Professor Nilsson wrote a long list of names on the board, and then we found out they were all people who'd _died,_ and-"

"Matilda," Lily interrupted her.

"Yeah?" Matilda said.

"Do you ever stop talking?" Lily asked.

"My dad says not," Matilda shrugged. "So, anyway-"

Mia laughed and turned to Emma, as Matilda continued talking to a slightly bored looking Lily.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Emma shrugged. "I think so," she said. "I do like it here, but-"

"But you still miss home," Mia supplied.

"Yeah," Emma nodded.

"Hey Lily, Mia."

Mia looked up to see James walking towards them.

"Hi James," Lily grinned. "These are our little sisters, Emma and Matilda."  
"Hey kids," James said. "I'm Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, so I'll be teaching you flying later this week."

"I can't wait to learn to fly," Matilda said excitedly. "It must be so cool!"

"It is pretty cool," James nodded. "Lily – Chaser tryouts are Thursday, straight after lessons. I've just put up a notice in the Common Room, but I thought I'd tell you too. And Mia, I want the whole team there, to help me choose and see how the new person fits in."  
"Why Thursday?" Lily asked.

"Because Ravenclaw and Slytherin have already booked the pitch for Saturday morning and afternoon," James explained. "And Thursday made sense, since I'm already going to be there from first year flying lessons. Anyway, I'll see you guys Thursday, then, yeah?"

"We'll see you before Thursday," Lily said. "Won't we?"

"Yeah, I guess you'll see me around," James shrugged. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Not yet," Lily sighed. "But next year..."

"Next year's still ages away, Lil," James reminded her, ruffling her hair. "See you around."

After lunch, Lily and Mia had their first third-year subject. Although they'd had taster sessions in all six options subjects last year, this was their first proper session – Care of Magical Creatures. Although it was a subject Hugo was also taking, he had it at a different time, and so Lily and Mia walked down to Hagrid's hut with Alexander Abercrombie and Kieran Finnigan, who was loudly complaining that Frankie wasn't taking Care of Magical Creatures.

"I wonder what we'll be studying first..." Mia mused as they walked out into the grounds.

"Yeah, and I wonder who else will be taking it," Lily said. "I know Ruby is, but she's in the other group, like Hugo."

They soon found out when they reached Hagrid's hut. There were only five other people in the class besides the Gryffindors: two Ravenclaw girls, a Hufflepuff girl, a Slytherin boy, and...

"Ilonka!" Lily sighed. "Seriously? Why couldn't she be in the other class?"

Mia shared Lily's lack of enthusiasm – the last thing she needed was another class spoiled by Lily and Ilonka's animosity. Already, it was hard to concentrate in both Charms and Herbology, due to the necessity of keeping Lily away from Ilonka. Mia loved her best friend, but she was hard work sometimes.

"Let's go over here," Mia said, steering Lily over to the other side of the group and away from Ilonka.

"Alrigh', I think that's everyone," Hagrid said, walking over to stand on the open side of the semi-circle the class had formed. "Well, welcome teh third year Care o' Magical Creatures. Got some grea' stuff lined up for yeh this year – some yeh saw last year, some yeh didn't – but today we're gonna start wi' some definitions. So, I want yeh to talk amongst yerselves for a few minutes an' see if yeh can come up wi' some definitions of wha' a _beast_ is, an' wha' a _being_ is."

Mia turned to Lily. "Do you know?" she asked.

Lily shrugged. "I guess maybe a 'being' is more like a person, so they can talk, but then beasts are more like animals, so they can't talk."

After a few minutes, Hagrid called them back together, and asked for suggestions. Lily volunteered her idea.

"It depends on your definition of talk, I suppose," Ilonka said loftily, turning her nose up at Lily. "Most creatures 'talk' in their own language, don't they?"

"Tha's righ', Ilonka," Hagrid said encouragingly, as Lily scowled. "It does depen' on how yeh define 'talk'. Merpeople can only speak Mermish above water. Does that mean they can talk, or not?"

"What about: 'a beast walks on four legs, and a being walks on two'?" Alexander suggested.

"That wouldn't work," Mia said. "What about things that don't walk on four _or_ two legs? And that would mean centaurs are beasts, but birds are beings."

"I think the whole trying to define 'beasts' and 'beings' is stupid," Kieran said. "No one's ever going to come up with a definition everyone agrees on, so what's the point? Things are just what they are. A centaur's a centaur, and a unicorn's a unicorn."

"Ahh, that's what some witches an' wizards thought in the fourteenth century," Hagrid said. "It wasn't until the 19th century tha' there was a universal definition of what a 'beast' and a 'being' were, an' even that's not without its problems. Now, I'd like yeh the open yer copies of 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' an' read the section 'Wha' is a Beast?' in the introduction."  
Everyone got out their books and started reading about early attempts to classify beasts and beings. What they'd finished, Hagrid handed out worksheets for homework, and they all looked at what they had to do: decide whether each creature on their list was a beast, being or spirit, according to a) Burdock Muldoon's definition, b) Elfrida Cragg's definition, and c) Grogan Stump's definition. He then told them to put the worksheets away, and they spent the rest of the lesson studying Flobberworms, which were, in Mia's opinion, the most boring magical creature to ever exist – she'd seen muggle creatures which were far more interesting.

After Care of Magical Creatures, the Gryffindors had Potions, and so Lily and Mia walked down to the dungeons with Alexander and Kieran, parting at the classroom doorway: Lily and Mia going to sit at their usual table with Zoe Davies and Cassie Andrews, and Alexander and Kieran joining Hugo and three Hufflepuff boys.

"Hi Cassie," Mia said, sitting down in her usual seat next to Cassie and opposite Lily. "Good holidays?" she hadn't really had a chance to talk to Cassie yet this term.

"Yeah, they were alright," Cassie shrugged.

"Did you do much?" Mia asked.

Cassie shook her head. "Just stayed home, mostly. I heard you went to an England friendly. Was that good?"

"Yeah, it was amazing," Mia said. "The England team were really good, but Japan were just amazing."

"Do you know any other adjectives other than 'amazing'?" Lily grinned.

Mia poked her tongue out at her. "At least it's better than the boys' favourite word 'epic' last year," she said. "They used it in and out of context – at lease I'm only calling amazing things amazing."

Professor Cooke came in and started the lesson, so the conversation broke off at that point. Today, they were starting on Shrinking Solutions, Potions which were much more difficult than anything they had brewed previously, and Mia found that the potion needed her full concentration, leaving little time to chat.

* * *

"I don't like Herbology!" Matilda said emphatically, as she, Emma and JJ sat down opposite Lily, Mia and Hugo at dinner.

"Why not?" Lily asked, shoving a dish of chicken casserole across the table towards the newcomers.

Matilda turned her nose up at the food. "I'm a vegetarian," she said loftily, reaching across Emma for a cheese and pasta bake instead. "So yeah, I thought I'd like Herbology, cuz it's like studying plants, and plants are cool-"

"She sounds like Luci," Hugo grinned to Mia. Luci Hamel was a Swiss girl who'd attended Hogwarts for a year last year whilst her dad had worked in London. Her favourite subject was Herbology, and she had once described plants as being like friends.

"So, yeah, I thought I'd like it," Matilda continued, oblivious to Hugo's comment. Mia had only known her two days, and it was already obvious that she couldn't listen at the same time as talking, and since she was always talking, that meant she was rarely listening. "But then I found out they're all imprisoned in greenhouses-" Hugo sniggered "-and how stupid is that? It's like saying to an alien 'hey, we're going to go study the human race, so let's go visit a prison!' How are we ever supposed to learn how plants behave in the wild, if we only ever see them in captivity? And it's not fair on the plants – how would you like to be locked in a greenhouse for your entire life, being able to see the real world, but never be in it. I think I might boycott the next Herbology lesson, and study plants on my own in the Forest, and-"

"No you won't," Lily said firmly. "You'll go to lessons and do as you're told, just like everyone else."  
"It's called civil disobedience," Matilda pouted.

"No, it's called being an idiot," Lily returned. "You'll learn more about plants in Herbology with Professor Longbottom than you will wandering around on your own and anway, the Forest's dangerous, and Forbidden, and you'd get detention, and lose points for Gryffidnor. Promise me you won't?"

Matilda sighed. "Alright," I promise," she said eventually. "I think there's still time for a walk in the grounds before it gets dark. Coming, Emma?" She stood up.

"Sure," Emma said, hastily swallowing the last of her dinner, and also standing up.

"D'you wanna come, JJ?" Matilda asked.

"Yeah okay – just give me a minute," JJ said.

"We'll wait for you in the Entrance Hall," Matilda said, and she and Emma walked off.

"Hugo, will you come too?" JJ asked.

"Why – are you scared of being seen with a pair of girls?" Hugo grinned.

"Something like that," JJ shrugged. "It's just... it's weird for guys to be friends with girls."  
"No it's not," Hugo said. "These two-" he gestured to Lily and Mia "are two of my best friends. And I have heaps of other friends who are girls. But I'll come if you really want me to."

Matilda and Emma reappeared at the table, obviously bored of waiting. "JJ, are you coming, or what?" Matilda demanded. "If we don't go soon, it'll get dark and we won't be able to see anything, and whilst there's value in hearing stuff, I really wanted to see stuff too."

"I'm coming," JJ affirmed, standing up, "and Hugo is too, if that's okay?"

"Sure, the more the merrier," Matilda said. "Just remember you've gotta be quiet, or you won't hear anything."

Lily and Mia both exchanged grins at the idea of Matilda being quiet, as she walked away, the others following. Lily sighed, sinking her head down onto Mia's shoulder.

"Save me, Mia," she said. "I think I'm going to die of exhaustion just keeping up with her this year."


	8. Chapter Eight: Boring and Interesting

Chapter Eight

Boring and Interesting

The Gryffindor and Ravenclaw third years had double History of Magic on Wednesday morning, and Hugo spent the first part of it filling Lily, Mia and Louis in on his walk with the first years the previous evening.

"We went down to the lake and all lay down by the edge of the water," he said.

"And then you accidently rolled in?" Lily asked, grinning.

"You wish," Hugo said. "No, we just lay there and watched for a whole hour. And Matilda was silent for the whole hour – not just quiet, but silent. It was really weird."

"You just watched, for a whole hour?" Mia asked. "What did you watch?"

"Birds, on the lake," Hugo shrugged. "We got a glimpse of the Giant Squid, and there were all the insects and stuff, on the bank, near us. I had a caterpillar crawling up my arm at one point. Normally I would've just flicked it off, but Matilda said not to, and it was actually quite interesting to watch it. It's actually weird how much you see when you just stop and look."

"It's weird to think that Matilda would stop for long enough to see that kind of thing," Lily mused. "She never stops, usually."

"Yeah, she was like a completely different person out there," Hugo said.

"So, going out with them again tonight?" Mia asked.

"Maybe," Hugo shrugged. "Obviously I've got more homework than them, so I can't go every time they do, but yeah... it was pretty boring, but interesting too."

"How can something be boring _and_ interesting?" Louis asked.

"I mean, like the stuff we saw was interesting, but it was still kinda boring to lie there for so long, not doing anything."

"Hey, d'you think maybe we should concentrate on the lesson?" Mia asked, suddenly aware that Professor Binns had been talking for almost twenty minutes, and she hadn't taken in a single fact.

"Nope," Louis said decisively, "It's not like we'd learn anything if we did..."

He had a point, Mia thought – although she tried her hardest to concentrate for the rest of the lesson, she kept finding herself drifting off. Professor Binns just had one of those voices which easily put you to sleep. In the end, Lily and Mia gave up listening completely, and instead did their Care of Magical Creatures homework.

Just before lunch, the third years had their second new subject. Whilst Lily headed up to the sixth floor for Muggle Studies, Mia and Hugo headed down to the first floor, where Wizarding Social Studies was taught. The Wizarding Social Studies teacher was Professor Hawksworth, the head of Slytherin. Professor Hawksworth was a tall, balding man, with no patience for time wasters, but great admiration for those who gave their work their best effort.

There were ten of them in the Wizarding Social Studies class: Mia; Hugo; Alice and Frankie Longbottom; Oscar Peakes and Liam Coote, two Gryffindor boys who usually kept themselves to themselves; Cassie; Ben Finch-Fletchley; Theo Nott; and Ruby McLaggan. The classroom was smaller than Mia remembered it being in the taster lessons – but then it only needed to accommodate half as many pupils – and the desks were set out in a horseshoe shape, to best facilitate discussion.

"Good morning, third years," Professor Hawksworth said, after they'd all taken their seats. "This year we will be studying the Ministry of Magic – how it works and when it doesn't, its History and why it has evolved the way it has – all of this, of course is leading up to the Field trip-"

"We're going on a field trip?!" Alice interrupted.

"Yes, Miss Longbottom," Professor Hawksworth said. "In April, the entire third year will be spending the day in London, visiting places of note in relation to the new options subjects. For those of you taking Wizarding Social Studies, the trip will include a tour of the Ministry of Magic, hopefully by the Minister himself."

An excited whisper ran around the class at this. Mia had been to London many times, but she'd only been to the Wizarding part of the capital twice, and knew there was a lot more to magical London than the few shops where she bought her school supplies.

"And you can all discuss how enthralling a prospect that is in your own time," Professor Hawksworth said. "But for now, I'd like us to consider the structure of the Ministry. There are seven departments in the Ministry – who can give me the name of one of them?"

Hugo raised his hand. "The Department of Magical Law Enforcement?" he said.

"Very good, Mr Weasley," Professor Hawksworth said. "Five points for Gryffindor. Another one?"

"Magical Games and Sports?" Oscar Peakes volunteered.

"Yes – another five points... dear me, Gryffindor are rather disproportionately represented in this class. Someone else – who's not in Gryffindor – give me another Department?"

Ruby raised her hand. "Something something Magical Creatures?" she offered.

"Nearly," Professor Hawksworth smiled. "Mr Nott, can you give me the full title, and then you and Miss McLaggan can share the points?"

"The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures," Theo said, somewhat boredly, and Professor Hawksworth awarded Slytherin five points.

"Another one, someone?"

Mia remembered that Luci Hamel's dad had worked for the Ministry when he'd spent a year in England. What department had he worked for? She raised her hand. "The Department for International Magical Co-Operation."

"Very good, five points for... Gryffindor... again. Someone else!"

Cassie raised her hand. "The Department of Mysteries," she said quietly.

"Yes, the Department of Mysteries, five points to Hufflepuff. Come one, there are still two more you haven't told me. Which department would I have to speak to if I wanted to connect a fireplace to the Floo network, or set up a portkey?"

Frankie raised her hand. "Magical Transport... Transportation?" she guessed.

"Yes, five points to Gryffindor. There's one more... anyone? No? Okay, it's the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, which deals with accidents involving magic or magical artefacts, and also the memory reversal of muggles who witness such accidents."

For the rest of the lesson, Professor Hawksworth talked to them about the various departments within the Ministry, and then set them homework to write a paragraph about each of the seven Departments.

At lunch, all any of the third years could talk about was the field trip in April. It hadn't taken long for those who took Wizarding Social Studies to fill their friends in, and soon everyone was speculating what the field trip could entail for each of their other subjects.

That afternoon, Mia had her third and final new subject – Ancient Runes. She met Louis outside on the fourth floor classroom, and the two of them sat together once they entered the classroom. Almost before Professor Babbling had started the lesson, Ben Finch-Fletchley put up his hand to ask a question.

"Yes, Ben?"

Professor Babbling was an elderly witch, who Mia though seemed a bit like a grandmother.

"When we go on the field trip to London, what will we be doing for Ancient Runes?" Ben asked.

"We will be going to Gringotts, to meet some curse breakers," Professor Babbling told the class.

"I bet my dad will be one of them," Louis sighed in an undertone. "I can hear him waffle on about Egyptian mummies whenever I like."

"Ancient Runes are very important when it comes to curse-breaking," Professor Babbling continued. "As I'm sure you'll find out on our field trip. But for now, we must begin with our own elementary rune translations..."

* * *

Third year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws had Astronomy at 11 o'clock on a Wednesday night, so that evening the third years stayed up, as the Gryffindor Common Room slowly began to empty around them. The first years were also staying up, as they had Astronomy at midnight, immediately after the third years.

"I can't wait to learn Astronomy," Matilda said. "I thought stars were just stars – I didn't know you could _study_ them."

"You can study everything," Hugo told her.

"Mmm, I guess," Matilda said. "So, do stars _mean_ things, like the angle they make with other stars or something, and can you use stars to tell the future or something, and-"

"Matilda," Lily said.

"Yeah."

"Shut up."

Matilda poked her tongue out at Lily, and then went to sit with the other first years, who looked about as fed up with her as Lily was.

"She's a pain in the neck," Lily sighed, as they watched Matilda talking at top speed to her classmates, who were trying to do their homework.

"She reminds me of you," Hugo said innocently.

Lily hit him, laughing all the same.

About half an hour later, when Mia was half way through her Social Studies homework, Emma got up from the group of first years and walked over.

"Mia... can I talk to you...?" she asked tentatively.

"Sure," Mia said, getting up and leading Emma over to the other side of the common room, so they wouldn't be overheard. "What's up?" she asked, settling herself in an armchair opposite the younger girl.

"I just wanted you to know that I'm going to give Hogwarts a go," Emma said steadily.

"Good – I'm glad," Mia smiled. "I'm sure you'll get less homesick as you start to get used to things here."

Emma nodded. "And I wanted to say thank you for looking after me on Monday."

"That's alright," Mia said. "That's what big sisters are for."

Emma looked down at her feet, chewing her bottom lip nervous.

"What's wrong?" Mia asked her.

"I'm a rubbish big sister!" Emma blurted out.

"What-?" Mia began.

"I've got a little brother and two little sisters back home," Emma said, sounding as though she was about to start crying. "And I've just gone and left them."

"You didn't leave them – you'll be going home for the holidays," Mia said reassuringly. "And you can write to them all the time. D'you... d'you want to talk to me about them?"

"Eddie's eight, Ellie's six, and Evie's three," Emma said. "I'm the oldest – I should be there to look after them... and stuff..."

It took Mia almost twenty minutes to convince Emma she wasn't being a bad big sister in choosing to come to Hogwarts. As she headed up to Astronomy later, Mia thought that although Lily thought her 'little sister' was a nightmare, Mia certainly had her hands full with hers.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates last week and yesterday - it was a busy week for me in RL. To make up for it, have a chapter a day until Monday!


	9. Chapter Nine: Chasers and Keepers

Chapter Nine

Chasers and Keepers

The next day, after double Charms, which was the last lesson of the afternoon, Lily, Mia and Hugo headed down to the Quidditch pitch. Louis, who'd had Herbology last, met them down there, as he'd come to support Lily. There was quite a turn out for the tryouts – about a dozen prospective Chasers, ranging from a seventh year, down to Alexander's little sister, Ailie Abercrombie.

"Alright, Lily?" James asked, as she and Mia walked across the pitch towards him, the boys having gone to wait in the stands.

"Uh-huh," Lily nodded. "I'm gonna be the best."

"You better," James grinned. "Hey, which of you's that kid Emma's big sister?" he asked.

"Me," Mia said. "Why?"

"She's a natural flier," James said. "Just been teaching that lot now. She told me she'd never ridden a broom before – I didn't believe her. Future team member for sure."

"What about Matilda? – she's my little sister," Lily said.

"Rubbish," James said shortly. "And not very happy about it. Look, she's up in the stands, sulking."

Mia looked, and, sure enough, there were Emma and Matilda, sat in the stands, not far from Hugo and Louis.

"Right, Lily, you go wait with the other people who are trying out, and Mia, come with me to the rest of the team – we need to talk about how the tryouts are going to work."

Mia followed James over to where the rest of the team were waiting. The two of them joined the Beaters: Roxanne, another Weasley cousin, and Mary Cattermole, a fifth year who was friends with Hugo's sister Rose; and Roxanne's older brother, Fred, who was a Chaser alongside James.

"Who are we missing...?" James asked.

"Samuel," Roxanne said. "He'll be late. He always is."

"Well, I'll run though what's gonna happen with you guys, and then someone an fill and then someone can fill Sam in when he turns up," James said. "So, first I'm gonna get all those trying out for Chaser to try and put a penalty past Mia. Mia, I don't want you completely playing at 100% for that first bit – maybe about 70? – because if they can't score it, then they're out."

"So you want me to let goals in?"Mia asked.

"Ish..." James shrugged. "I mean, like obviously if they aim wide then they're not going to score, and if they throw the Quaffle really slowly then you're gonna have plenty of time to block it. I suppose I just want you to react in slow motion – give them a bit of a chance."

"Okay," Mia nodded.

"Then anyone who gets through that round, I'll put them in a bit of a game set up, get you two-" he nodded at Roxanne and Mary "-sending Bludgers at them, maybe use Sam as a second Keeper – it depends how many there are. I'll observe, and pick who I want on the team from all-round ability. If I really can't decide, then I'll do it on penalties again."

As James finished speaking, Samuel Wood, the team's Seeker, came running across the pitch.

"Sorry I'm late," he panted. "I was helping Hagrid round up some krups – lost track of time."

James rolled his eyes. "Well, Fred, Roxy and Mary can fill you in whilst Mia and I get started," he said. "Mia, you get up to the goalhoops whislt I go sort out the wannabe Chasers."

Mia kicked off hard from the ground, feeling the familiar rush of wind as the ground sped away from underneath her. She did a lap of the pitch to warm herself up, before taking up her position at the goalhoops, which had her squinting slightly into the sun, which was starting to sink below the horizon.

Ailie Abercrombie was the first to tryout. She mounted her broom, kicked off from the ground, and rose a few inches before she leant back too far and slid off the back of her broom, landing with a bump on the ground. After several more failed attempts to get airborne, James gently led her away and let the next Chaser have a go.

Mia recognised the fourth year boy who took the Quaffle now – his name was Kyle Caplan, and he'd tried out for Keeper alongside her last year, as well as playing as a reserve Chaser in a match in her first year. He flew towards her confidently, Quaffle tucked under his arm. Mia watched him steadily. As he entered the scoring area, he feignted right and shot left, and Mia waited a fraction of a second longer than she usually would have before diving, and so he scored.

As she faced prospective Chaser after prospective Chaser, Mia stole occasional glances down at Lily, who was waiting in the slowly dwindling line. Of the next four Chasers, two shot wide, one shot so slowly Mia would have had time to do a lap of the goal hoops and still block it; and the fourth, a fourth year boy, Reuben Goldstein, who's older sister was one of the Ravenclaw Chasers, flew towards Mia so fast that she reacted at her normal speed and still couldn't block his goal.

Then, it was Lily's turn. Mia really wanted her best friend to make the team, but, even more, she wanted the best Chaser so that Gryffidnor could keep hold of the House Cup, so she wasn't about to the house cup, so she wasn't about to go easy on her friend. Lily flew towards Mia, feinted left, then right, and then shot left. Mia flew left to try and block it. Her fingertips brushed the Quaffle, but it still went in. Lily, like Kyle and Reuben, was through to the next round.

In all, six of the prospective Chasers managed to score against Mia. James arranged them into two teams, and set them up in a game, with Samuel as a second Keeper, and Fred helping him observe. After about twenty minutes, James declared that Reuben Goldstein and Lily Potter were through to the third and final round.

Instead of having the two finalists just attempt penalties on their own, James and Fred set up the goals, with the prospective Chasers each trying to score five times, on the back of passes from the current Chasers. As well as testing the Chaser's technical abilities, this allowed everyone to see how well the new Chasers fitted in with the existing team, and this proved to be Reuben's undoing. Whilst Lily, possibly somewhat due to the fact that she'd been playing with them since she'd first learnt to fly, immediately gelled with James and Fred, Reuben was a glory-hunter, determined to win on his own merit, and far too slow at catching the Quaffle and passing it on.

The result: Lily scored two goals out of five, and Reuben didn't score any. James declared Lily the new Chaser, and the team, tired and hungry, headed up to the castle for a late dinner.

* * *

That evening, the gang congregated in the Inter-House Common Room. Lily, Mia, Hugo and Louis went up there after dinner, and found most of them already there, watching Mac make some badges with his badge maker. They all watched as he drew the Gryffindor house crest on a circle of card, coloured it in, and then tapped it with his wand to duplicate it. Then he fitted it into the badge maker, tapped it with his wand, and pushed down a leaver.

"There you go," he said, taking out the completed badge and handing it to Alice. Then he did the second one and handed it to Frankie. "That'll be a sickle each, please," he said, as the twins pinned their matching badges to their robes.

"Since when were you charging for them?" Louis asked.

"Since I'm getting through the badges that come with the maker really fast," Mac shrugged. "I'm gonna have to write home to get my dad to get me some more, and my pocket money won't stretch to cover all that."

"Hey, Mac, can you make me one that says 'I love Frankie?'" Kieran asked.

Mac rolled his eyes. "Tell you what – I'll sell you one of the cardboard circles for a sickle, you can design the badge yourself, and then I'll turn it into a badge for you."

"Can I do one that says 'I'm the new Gryffindor Chaser'?" Lily asked, grinning. Mia could tell she'd been bursting to tell everyone since they'd got to the Inter-House Common Room.

The congratulations came in from all sides:

"Well done, Lily – knew you'd do it."

"Way to go – let's hold onto the Quidditch Cup."

"Go, go, Gryffindor!"

Mia heard slow clapping, and looked up to see Josh Young walking across the room towards them.

"Well done," he said sarcastically. "In an act of pure favouritism, James Potter appoints Lily Potter to the Quidditch team over older far more qualified candidates."

"How would you know what the other Chasers were like?" Mia demanded, coming to her friend's defence. "You weren't there."

"I didn't have to be – none of you did – it was a foregone conclusion that Potter would pick his baby sister.

James strode across the room towards them, evidently having spotted Josh.

"What's going on?" he demanded.

"Nothing," Josh said airily. "I was merely congratulating your sister on becoming the new Gryffindor Chaser. Doubtless she will be abysmal, but we couldn't really have expected you to choose anyone other than her, could we?"

"I chose Lily because she was the best person there James told him shortly. "If you think you could've done better, why didn't you tryout?"

"Because one, I am a Keeper, I can't just chop and change positions whenever I feel like it... unlike some people-"he glared nastily at Kyle Caplan, who was buying a badge from Mac "-and two, I wouldn't be on a team that you're in charge of if you paid me!" And with that, he stalked off across the room to rejoin his friends.

"Idiot," James growled, making a rude hand gesture at Josh's retreating back.

Chlo, who'd been hovering nearby, came and hugged James' arm. "Come on, leave it," she told him.

"I don't give a damn if he has a go at me," James said. "I just don't want him having a go at other people because of me."

"I know," Chlo sighed. "Now come away, and don't let him rile you – he wants a reaction out of you."

James allowed Chlo to lead him away, still grumbling about Josh.

"Hey, Louis, I made you a present," Hugo grinned, breaking the silence. He handed his cousin a badge which he'd just drawn and had Mac make for him.

"What does it say?" Lily asked, quickly forgetting about Josh.

" 'The girls only like me because of my Veela hair'," Louis read, scowling. "Not true!" he said indignantly.

Then he ran his hand absent-mindedly through his silvery blonde hair, and everyone laughed.


	10. Chapter Ten: The Rights of Trees

Chapter Ten

The Rights of Trees

Once everyone had settled down into life at Hogwarts, the days seemed to fly by, and soon a whole week had passed since the Chaser tryouts, and it was Thursday again; time for the first full Quidditch practice. James had decided that there would be two practices a week this year: one on a Monday night for forty-five minutes to an hour, to play in a game situations; and one on a Thursday, a full practice to run things and test things, mostly by using drills.

Lily and Mia walked down to the Quidditch pitch with James and Fred, having sat with them at dinner. When they reached the Quidditch pitch, Roxanne and Mary were already waiting for them, and Samuel, as usual, was late. He still hadn't turned up by the time everyone else had changed into their Quidditch robes and was ready to go.

"Alright, we better get started," James said, checking his watch. "I really ought to start telling Sam practice starts half an hour earlier than it actually does, just to have a chance of him turning up on time."

Just as he said this, Samuel came into the changing rooms.

"Josh Young's up in the stands," he said. "Looks like he's preparing to heckle."

James swore. "What is it with him?" he demanded, mounting his broom, kicking off hard and zooming out of the changing rooms and onto the pitch. The others (apart from Samuel, who was getting changed) followed on foot.

Sure enough, a figure was sat up in the stands – a small blob, just about recognisable as Josh. James was rapidly speeding towards him, drawing his wand as he did so.

"Get lost," he growled at Josh as he reached him.

"It's a free country," Josh shrugged. "I can sit wherever I like."

"I'll give you to the count of five to leave of your own volition, and then I'm gonna make you leave," James said. "One..."

Josh laughed. "I'd like to see you try," he scoffed.

"Two... I'm serious – I'll hex you into the middle of next week."

"Try it."

"Three..."

On four, Josh shot a stinging hex at James. James retaliated – although with what Mia wasn't sure, since James was a seventh year, and therefore able to cast non-verbal spells without vocalising the incantation – and soon it was a full scale duel.

"I'm going up there," Fred sighed, mounting his broom and kicking off hard from the ground. The four girls – Lily, Mia, Roxanne and Mary – looked at each other then, as one, rose into the air and followed him.

James and Josh were still duelling, Josh stood in the stands and James flying around him. As Mia and the other girls reached the pair, Fred cast a powerful shield charm between them, which knocked Josh off his feet, and almost threw James off his broom.

"What did you do that for?" James demanded angrily.

"To stop you doing something stupid," Fred retorted. "If he went to a teacher saying you'd hexed him, you'd probably lose the Quidditch captaincy, and he'd love that. Just ignore him, and let's get on with practice."

Reluctantly, James followed Fred and the others back to the ground, where Samuel was waiting.

"Alright, let's get started," he said, a little more sharply than usual. "Passing drills, because we all need quick reflexes. Let's get up to playing height."

The seven of them kicked off and flew upwards until they were level with the goalhoops. They formed a circle at the opposite end of the pitch to where Josh was sat, and James started them off passing the Quaffle around the circle, constantly encouraging them to go faster. After a few minutes of that, James instructed them to skip the person next to them, and pass to the person beyond that.

"Well done, I'm sure you'll win the Quaffle Passing World Cup," jeered a loud, sarcastic voice; Josh had used _sonorous_ to magnify his voice so no one could fail to hear him. James wheeled around in mid-air, preparing to hex him, but instead Fred hit his cousin with an impediment jinx.

"Ignore him," Fred said, in the few seconds where the jinx rendered James incapable of movement, and when it wore off the captain turned back to his team with a look of grim determination on his face.

"Right, now you can pass the Quaffle to whoever you like, calling their name, so they know it's coming," James said, and the drill resumed. After a few minutes, James caught the Quaffle and changed the rules. "Okay, so now you're going to call one name ahead. So, I pass the Quaffle to Mia, but I say 'Roxy', so Mia has to pass the Quaffle to Roxy, and say another name. Roxy!"

Mia caught the Quaffle. "Samuel!" she passed it to Roxanne.

"Lily!" Roxanne passed the Quaffle to Samuel, who caught it, said 'Fred'... and threw it to Fred.

"Imbecile," Josh coughed loudly, but no one paid him any attention. Fred threw the Quaffle back to Samuel, who correctly threw it to Lily, and play resumed.

Mia soon understood why James had them playing this particular game – it required quick thinking, good reflexes, and stellar concentration, all of which were essential when playing Quidditch. After the passing drills, James got Roxanne and Mary alternately attacking and defending Samuel, who'd been instructed to release the Snitch, give it a head-start and then capture it, whilst James, Fred and Lily worked together to try and put goals past Mia. Josh made frequent snide remarks, but no one paid him any attention.

After about an hour and a half, James called a halt, and the team headed back to the changing room.

"Good work, guys," he said, as they all exchanged their Quidditch robes for school robes. "We'll have to work hard, of course, but I see no reason why we can't hold onto the Cup this year – Ravenclaw have lost Toft, so unless they pull something amazing out of the woodwork, I don't see they'll be any problem. Slytherin are two Chasers down this year, so they're a bit of an unknown entity – could be amazing, could be awful; Hufflepuff have still got their front three, but they've also got a new Keeper, so who knows what they'll be like."  
Mia walked up to Gryffindor tower with Lily and on the fifth floor, they ran into Matilda.

"What're you doing down here?" Lily demanded. "It's past first-year curfew."

"I was in detention," Matilda said cheerily.

"With who?" Mia asked.

"What did you do?" Lily sighed.

"Professor Duncan, cuz I wouldn't do his test."

"And why wouldn't you do his test?" Lily asked.

"Because it was two pages long, and it was on two pieces of paper instead of just on the back of the first one," Matilda said indignantly. "It's a waste of paper!"

"Surely you not doing the test makes it an even bigger waste of paper..." Mia reasoned.

"I was protesting!" Matilda said. "Non-violent non-cooperation. It's what Gandhi did."

"Who's Gandhi?" Lily asked. "No, actually, I don't want to know. I think you're silly for getting in trouble over a silly 'save the trees' campaign."

"It's not silly!" Matilda said angrily, sparks flying out of the end of her wand. "Trees are super important! Just because they can't talk or tell us how they feel, doesn't mean they don't have rights!"

Lily snickered, and more angry sparks shot out of the end of Matilda's wand.

"You can laugh," Matilda said, "but two hundred, even just one hundred years ago, people thought black people weren't real people – that we didn't have thoughts and feelings like you white people, and so no one thought we should have any rights, just like no one thinks animals and plants and TREES! should have rights! And when I found out about the Wizarding World, I thought maybe it'd have a better idea about proper conservation and a sustainable land ethic, but it turns out you're even worse than the Muggles!"

With that, she stormed off up the corridor ahead of Lily and Mia, and was soon out of sight. Lily and Mia exchanged glances. "What the hell was that?" Lily said eventually.

Mia shrugged. "A very angry whirlwind? I didn't know she was so into all this environmental stuff."

"Me neither," Lily said. "First 'plants shouldn't be kept in greenhouses' and now this! Why did I have to get the difficult one?"

Mia secretly wondered whether Professor Longbottom had given Lily Matilda, aka 'the difficult one' as a little sister because Lily herself was 'the difficult one', and he hoped she'd grow up a bit. However, knowing Lily as she did, Mia was sure her friend would take the comment the wrong way, so she said nothing and just shrugged.


	11. Chapter Eleven: Hogsmede

Chapter Eleven

Hogsmede

The first Hogsmede trip of the year was scheduled for the last weekend of September. The excitement seemed to increase the further down the school you went, and so whilst the sixth and seventh years viewed the trip rather nonchalantly as just something which happened, the third years, to whom this experience was new, were buzzing with excitement.

The gang congregated in the Inter-House Common Room the night before the trip, listening to Mac's plans for his 'tour' the following day.

"Sounds like you've put a lot of thought into this," Louis grinned, once Mac had finished.

"A whole double period of History of Magic," Mac said proudly. "So, who's coming on my tour, then?"

"Us four," Lily said, gesturing at herself, Mia, Hugo and Louis.

"Me," Alice said.

"Frankie?" Mac asked.

Frankie shook her head. "I'm going with Kieran," she said.

Mac sighed. "Of course you are."

"I might tag along," Al said. "It's better than going around with Rose and Scorp."

"Okay," Mac nodded. "Alexander? Rachel? Zoe?" They all nodded their assent. "Cassie?"

"I don't think I'm going to be able to come to Hogsmede..." Cassie said.

"Why not?"

"But you have to!"

"It's our first ever Hogsmede weekend – you have to come!"

"I'm just really behind on homework," Cassie said. "The workload's really increased this year, and I'm still struggling with my reading sometimes – I thought I might stay here tomorrow and make the most of the quiet to really get on top of my Rune Translations."

"It won't be quiet, though," Ailie Abercrombie reasoned. "Us first and second years are planning on taking full advantage of having the castle to ourselves."

"Why don't I give you a hand with your Runes now?" Al suggested. "Then you don't have to be left behind tomorrow."

"Would you do that?" Cassie asked tentatively.

"No, I just thought I'd suggest it for the sake of it," Al grinned. "Of course I will! I don't claim to be an expert at Runes or anything, but I've done third year..."

Cassie let Al help her, and so the next morning when they all set off for Hogsmede, she was amongst them. After breakfast, Mia, Lily and Hugo said goodbye to Matilda, Emma and JJ – who'd become fast friends with the girls – and headed out into the Entrance Hall, where Mac, Zoe and Cassie and Al were already waiting. As Lily, Mia and Hugo reached them, Rose and Scorpius walked past, arguing.

"What's the betting they'll have broken up again before we get back to the castle tonight?" Al sighed.

After the others had arrived, the gang joined the queue which was moving slowly past the caretaker, Mr Carter, who was checking permission forms, out of the double doors, and into the late September sunshine. James and Chlo were several people ahead of them, Chlo glaring at James, who was oblivious to her because he was glaring at Josh Young's back.

As they walked to Hogsmede, Mac described in detail the first stop on his 'tour': Honeydukes Sweet Shop. Mia had been to Honeydukes once before, but it had been almost three years ago, and her memory of it was rather hazy, so she listened to Mac's description with enthusiasm.

When they reached Honeydukes, it was even better than Mia remembered it. The walls were stacked from floor to ceiling with all sorts of sweets: sugar quills which you could suck whilst you worked, chocolate frogs, Bertie Botts every flavour beans, lollypops you could lick for hours... The gang spent ages looking around before anyone even thought about buying anything.

"D'you think I could make Ilonka eat an acid pop..." Lily mused, stood beside a display of blood red lollypops which claimed they would burn a hole in your tongue.

"Would you be suspicious if she offered you food?" Louis asked.

"Yes..." Lily said.

"Well, she'd hardly take it from you, then," Louis told her.

Lily sighed. "What about Matilda... she's way more gullible than Ilonka, and at least it'd shut her up for a bit."

They all laughed.

Eventually, the group made their purchases, and left the shop. As well as some things for herself, Mia brought a sugar quill for Emma, and three chocolate frogs for the younger girl to send home to her little brother and sisters. Earlier in the week, Mia had had to comfort Emma, and once again reassure her that she hadn't abandoned her younger siblings by coming to Hogwarts. Mia knew that, despite appearances, Emma still often had bouts of homesickness.

The next stop of Mac's tour was Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, a branch of the joke shop run by Fred and Roxanne's father, George.

"Hi, Uncle George," Lily grinned, making her way across to him as they entered the already crowded shop.

"Hey, Lilykins," George grinned. "I forgot you guys are all old enough for Hogsmede this year. Hi Al, Louis, Hugo, Mia, and... whoever the rest of you horrible lot are."

"Got any new products?" Lily asked.

"Since the summer?" George asked. "Not yet, but I've got some stuff in development that you can have a look at if you like – gather round."  
They all gathered around the workbench in the middle of the shop, and George proceeded to show the some of his latest inventions.

"The Note-Taking Quill," he said, showing them a violently orange, but otherwise completely normal looking quill. "You suck the tip-" he demonstrated "-place it on your parchment, and then it's off, taking notes for you."

"Awesome!" Mac said.

"So, what's wrong with it?" Al asked sceptically – if the quill was still in development then it had to be flawed somehow.

"Too much," George sighed. "For starters, the spell wears off far too quickly – I know no spell lasts forever, but this one's so short lived you can only get a handful of hours of note-taking out of each one. Add to that a need to take rest breaks every twenty or so minutes, so that it invariably misses something, and a tendency to fall asleep if the subject matter is too boring – and Binns' class is precisely what these were developed for – and... well, they're certainly not ready to sell yet."

He lifted the quill off of the sheet of parchment, and everyone craned their necks to see what it had just written:

'Note-Taking Quill.

Faults:

· Spell wears off too quickly

· Requires rest breaks (approx. every 20 minutes)

· Falls asleep if bored

Conclusion: well... they're certainly yet'.

"'Well they're certainly yet'?" Hugo asked.

"That's what happens when the spell starts wearing off," George sighed. "It starts picking out the unimportant words, so you end up with a page of incoherent waffle instead of actual notes."  
"Have you got anything else?" Zoe asked.

"Hallucinogenic boggart sweets," George grinned, showing the a handful of round black sweets before hastily shoving them back in his pocket. "When you suck them, they make you 'see' whatever your boggart is – so if you're scared of spiders, you'd see a dirty great spider in front of you, but it wouldn't actually be there, and would disappear when you finished the sweet, of if you spat it out. At least that's how they're supposed to work..."

"What actually happens?" Hugo asked.

"It varies," George shrugged. "Sometimes the boggart won't go away, sometimes it doesn't work at all... once I think I got a glimpse of what a boggart looks like when no one's looking at it..."

"Why would you want to see a boggart?" Lily asked.

"Some people get off on fear," George shrugged. "Give 'em to your enemies. It's a safe way to practice facing your fears... But yeah, certainly not ready yet. So, that's all folks – unless you want to see the baby Pygmy Puffs, which most people do..."

He led them over to a tank, which a bunch of giggling girls were gathered around. One of them was Dove Ackerley, a Ravenclaw girl in their year, whom Louis and Mac had both dated for several weeks last year. At the sight of her ex-boyfriends, Dove hurried her friends away, all of them giving the boys nasty looks, even as Louis ran his hand lazily through his hair, and Mac grinned a, "hi, ladies."

George raised his eyebrows. "What was that all about?" he asked.

"Girls being idiots," Louis shrugged. " _She_ was the one who insisted on coming exploring – I don't know how that makes it _my_ fault that we got detention."

"Girls are usually idiots," George grinned. "Guess us guys are bigger idiots for marrying them... Anyway – Pygmy Puffs – miniature Puffskeins, you know – have always been one of our biggest sellers, so recently we decided to breed them in-store, and it's been a big hit. These ones were born last week."

Everyone peered into the tank, which was filled with several dozen tiny furballs, each no bigger than a knut.

"Aww, they're so sweet," Lily cooed. "Can I have one, Uncle George? Can I? Please?"

"Not yet," George said. "Can't sell 'em till they're at least eight weeks. Tell you what, I'll give you one as your Christmas present from me. If you pick one, I'll mark it and reserve it as yours, so you can come and visit it next time you're in Hogsmede."  
Whilst Lily picked her Pygmy Puff, the others wandered around the shop, stocking up on joke and trick products. Mia bought several pads of MIs, the French instant messaging system which had spread like wildfire around Hogwarts this time last year. She also spotted a cage full of B's – the bouncing, bashing, biting, boomerang, barmy balls that James, Fred and Chris had developed two years ago. Mia had owned one, but after a while it had stopped coming back. She suspected it was probably due to the rather inexpert homing charm the boys had put on them.

After Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, the gang were treated to a whistle stop tour of Hogsmede – Scrivenshafts, the pet shop, the post office, the Shrieking Shack – finally winding up in the Three Broomsticks, Hogsmede's largest pub.

Mac quickly did a head count, and ordered eleven butterbears. "And I'm not paying," he grinned.

The others divided the cost of the drinks between them, and then Al and Mac moved two large tables together so that they could all sit down. All in all, Mia thought she was going to enjoy Hogsmede weekends.


	12. Chapter Twelve: The Quidditch Match

Chapter Twelve

The Quidditch Match...

As September became October, everyone was gearing up for the first Quidditch match of the season – Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff. Mia was always somewhat nervous before a Quidditch match – it came with the territory. Lily, however, became snappier and snappier in the week leading up to the match, until the night before the game, Louis declared that if Lily didn't start being nice to people, he'd be supporting Hufflepuff tomorrow.

"Fine! You do that!" Lily retorted. "See if I care! I'm going to bed!" And she stormed out of the Inter-House Common Room, even though it was barely seven-thirty.

"Well, I for one will be glad when this match is over," Hugo sighed. "Talk about nightmare, or what?"

"Lily's just such a..." Louis sighed, searching for the right word.

"Lily," Mia supplied.

"Yeah," Hugo grinned. "Lily's just Lily."

* * *

When Mia woke up the next morning, it was to find Rachel, Alice and Frankie reasoning with a hump in Lily's bed which declared she wasn't going to play in the match.

Mia sighed as she got out of the bed. "What's going on?" she demanded.

"I can't play in the match," came Lily's muffled voice from under the covers.

"Why not?" Mia asked, sitting down at the foot of her friend's bed.

"Because I'm rubbish and I'll make us lose and then everyone will hate me," Lily said.

"They'll hate you way more if you don't even show up," Mia reasoned. "C'mon, it's just nerves – you'll be fine once you get out there."

"But there'll be all those people out there, and I have to prove to them that I didn't only get onto the team because I'm James' sister," Lily said.

"No one thinks that," Mia reassured her. "Well... apart from Josh Young, and we all know he's an idiot."

"And Lily, you're gonna go out there and be amazing anyway, so what is there to worry about?" Frankie reasoned.

"Come on," Mia said briskly, pulling back the covers. "Breakfast."

Grudgingly, Lily got up and then the five girls headed down into the common room. Hugo, Alexander and Kiera were waiting for them by the portrait hole, and so the eight of them could make their way down to breakfast together.

Frankie and Kieran greeted each other with a long kiss, which made Hugo groan.

"Seriously, guys?" he said. "Please don't make me lose my appetite for breakfast."

"Seconded," Alice sighed. "You two really are disgusting."

When they reached the Great Hall, Lily and Mia said goodbye to the others, and went to join the rest of the team.

"Alright, girls?" James asked as the two of them sat down. "Nervous, Lily?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Of course not. I never net nervous."

'Sure you don't,' Mia thought, helping herself to some toast, but she didn't say anything. If Lily wanted to pretend she wasn't nervous, then that was her choice.

On the way down to the pitch, the Gryffindor team met Mac, who was also heading down early, since he was the commentator.

"Hey, good luck guys," he grinned. "But just so you know, Hufflepuff are gonna slaughter you." He sung the last two words, and then skipped off ahead.

Fred rolled his eyes. "That's one strange kid," he said.

When they reached the changing rooms, the team changed into their scarlet and gold robes, and then waited for the customary captain's pep talk.

"Alright," James said. "We're good enough to win, we've worked hard enough to win, so we're going to win. I've just found out who the new Hufflepuff players are: the new Beater's a fourth year – Garrett Finch-Fletchley, and he's a pretty good flier, although I've never seen him play Beater before. And the Keeper's a second year, by the name of Ned Bell – does anyone know him?" No one did. "-well, then, he's basically an unknown entity. All we can really do is play our best – the other team are irrelevant."

Samuel grinned. "I wouldn't exactly say the other team are irrelevant..." he said.

"You know what I mean," James sighed. "Alright, let's get out there."

The seven of them shouldered their brooms and headed out onto the pitch. Mac, sat in his usual seat in the commentator's podium, with Professor Longbottom beside him to ensure he behaved himself, introduced them.

"The Gryffindors: Potter, Weasley, Potter, Weasley, Cattermole, Dursley aaaand Wood!"

They all stood in a long line, waiting for their opponents to arrive, and Mia looked up at the stands, searching for faces she recognised. Despite what he'd said to Lily last night, Louis was sat with Hugo, wearing his roaring lion hat and helping his cousin wave a Gryffindor banner. Emma, Matilda and JJ were not far from them, all watching intently. Kieran and Frankie were in the row behind the first year trio, far too wrapped up in each other to pay attention to what was going on on the pitch.

"And it's the Hufflepuffs – the far-superior team in my, and anyone who has even half a brain cell's opinion – Creevey, Hailey, Lovell, Miles, Finch-Fletchley, Bell aaaand Cadwallder."

The two teams stood facing each other, and the Captains – James and the Hufflepuff Seeker, Gavin Cadwallder – stepped forward and shook hands on Madam Hooch's command. As she waited for the whistle, Mia eyed up her opposite number, a short, wiry boy with red hair, freckles, and sticking-out ears.

"Mount your brooms!" Madam Hooch called. "On my whistle... three... two... one-"

On the whistle, the fourteen players kicked off hard from the ground. Mia headed straight for the goal hoops.

"Aaaand they're off!" Mac shouted into the magical megaphone. "And it's Hufflepuff-the-awesome in possession, Alicia-the-lovely-Lovell passes to Cool Colleen Creevery, back to the Lovely Lovell, who still won't go out with me – her loss-"

"Mac, no one wants to hear about your love-life," Professor Longbottom said.

"Sorry, Professor," Mac sighed. "Okay, so, yeah, anyway – Lovell has passed to um... h... h... hot-stuff Hailey... Super Shane... whatever floats your boat... and it's Hufflepuff's Shane Hailey heading for goal!"

Mia steeled herself as Hailey – probably the best of Hufflepuff's Chasers – flew towards her, Quaffle tucked under his arm. He dodged a Bludger, entered the scoring area, put on a burst of speed, and neatly place the Quaffle through Mia's left hand hoop, almost before she'd seen what was going on.

"HUFFLEPUFF SCORE!" Mac yelled into the megaphone. "And that awesome goal from hot-stuff-Hailey has given Hufflepuff an early lead. Can Gryffindor claw it back, or has Super Shane set the tone of things to come?"

Play resumed, with Gryffidnor in possession. James, Fred and Lily worked well together, passing the Quaffle between them as they flew the length of the pitch. Within five minutes, they had equalised.

"So, it's 10 all, and it's Hufflepuff's Alicia Lovell in possession, she passes to Creevery, Hailey, Lovell... nasty Bludger there from Gryffindor's Mary Cattermole, and the lovely Lovell drops the Quaffle, and it's caught up by Fred Weasley, waiting below. He passes to Potter – Lily, that is – to other Potter, back to P-oooh! Intercepted by Super Shane Hailey, who passes to Creevey, Lovell, Hailey, and the three Hufflepuff Chasers are heading for goal!"

Mia watched the three Chasers flying towards her in formation. From what she could see the Hufflepuff front three were even better than last year. She knew that Gryffindor had their work cut out if they were going to win today.

"Hailey passes to Lovell, to Creevey-"

Mia watched as Coleen Creevey entered the scoring area, one hand on her broom, the other holding the Quaffle tight to her chest. Then, before she had any time to react, Creevey had thrown the Quaffle through Mia's right hand hoop and scored.

"HUFFLEPUFF SCORE!" Mac yelled. "Cool Colleen Creevey's goal puts her team ahead again: Hufflepuff lead, 20 points to 10."

As the match lengthened, Hufflepuff steadily drew further and further ahead. Although Mia blocked half a dozen gaols, the Hufflepuff Chasers scored at least as many. James, Fred and Lily worked well together when they had the Quaffle, but gaining possession proved difficult, as the Hufflepuff Chasers passed so quickly they were difficult to intercept, and the Beaters, particularly Garrett Finch-Fletchley, hit the Bludgers at the Gryffindor players with such ferocity that, nine times out of ten, it was all they could do to keep hold of their brooms, let alone the Quaffle.

"And the awesome team that is Hufflepuff are leading 80 points to 20," Mac commentated. "Gryffindor, you're gonna have to do better than that," he taunted.

"You're supposed to be impartial, Mr Walter," said Professor Longbottom, who was sat beside Mac, supervising him.

"I am!" Mac protested. "I'm just telling it how it is, Professor. So, anyway... Gryffindor's James Potter in possession, he passes to his sister, who passes to her cousin – can someone say 'nepotism'?... Kidding, Professor, kidding...anyway, a smashing – oooh I like that word – Bludger from Finch-Fletchley, means that Weasley's dropped the Quaffle, and it's now Hufflepuff in po- is that the Snitch?"

Everyone looked up to where Mac was pointing. Samuel, and the Hufflepuff Seeker, seventh year Gavin Cadwallder, were flying across the pitch towards the top of the Hufflepuff stands, where a golden glint was barely visible.

"They're pretty much neck and neck – Cadwallder and Wood – last time the two of them faced each other, Cadwallder just pipped Wood to the prize, but I have it from a reputable source that Cadwallder's been putting in at least two hours of practice a day over the summer... okay, I made that up, but it might be true; he's certainly flying better this year... not that he was flying badly to begin with... I'm digging myself a hole here, aren't I... you all know what I mean..."

"Mac?" Professor Longbottom said.

"Yeah?" Mac said.

"Tell us what's happening in the game," the head of Gryffindor sighed.

"Oh yeah, that," Mac grinned. "Um... Cadwallder's ahead of Wood, he reaches out... he catches the Snitch! HUFFLEPUFF WINS! FINAL SCORE: 230 points to 20!"

Mia followed the team to the ground, feeling disappointed, but not all surprised. Hufflepuff had played well. As she landed between Lily and James, the din from the cheering Hufflepuff team was almost deafening, too loud to hear anyone talking. Nevertheless, she saw the Gryffindor Captain's lips form one word which summed up his feelings quite adequately: "Damn."


	13. Chapter Thirteen: And Afterwards

Chapter Thirteen

...And Afterwards

The atmosphere in the Gryffindor Common Room was subdued that evening. The celebrations in the Hufflepuff Common Room could be heard every time you passed the Entrance Hall, which did nothing to improve the Gryffindor's moods.

"You were all good..." James said unenthusiastically, later that evening, as the Gryffindor team sat around the dying embers of the fire.

"Hufflepuff were just better," Roxanne supplied.

"Mmm," James sighed distractedly. "Well, we know what we've gotta work on, and it's not the end of the world – if we win the other two matches then we can still retain the Cup."

James' girlfriend Chlo came over to the group, leaning against the back of James' armchair.

"James, stop wallowing and come and sit with me," she implored.

"In a minute," James said distractedly. Mia followed his gaze, and saw that he'd just spotted Josh Young walked towards them.

"Forget about him," Chlo said, obviously also following James' gaze. "Seriously, James, just leave it."

But James wasn't listening to her. He stood up as Josh reached the group, his hand going to the pocket of his robes where Mia guessed his wand to be.

"Great debut, cap'n," Josh drawled, giving James a mock salute.

"Get lost," James spat.

"You're giving him what he wants," Chlo sighed, pulling on James' arm. "Come on, leave it."

"I've got as much right to stand here as you have," Josh shrugged. Mia could see that his calm serenity was infuriating James. "And," Josh continued. "I feel I have a duty to Gryffindor to inform you that you were abysmal today."

"I don't think they really needed you to tell them, Josh," someone else grinned – a fifth year who's name Mia didn't know. "We were all there, and they were playing."

"Oh, so it's like that, is it?" James said angrily, rounding on him. "That's how you feel, huh? Is that how you all feel?" James demanded, looking around the room, which had fallen silent. "Well? Is it?"

"James," Chloe said, tugging on his arm. "Leave it."

"That's what comes of nepotism," Josh shrugged, grinning lazily.

"It's not-" James began, but Josh cut across him.

"How many team members are related to you? Three – four if you count Dursley-"

"It's a team I inherited," James protested.

"And remind me who the new Chaser is?" Josh said. "Oh yeah – your sister."

"Because she was the best player to tryout," James said. "Any idiot – who was actually at the tryouts – could see that."

"And any idiot could see from today that she was aw-"

But he never got to finish his sentence, since James had drawn his wand and hit him with what looked like the silencing charm. Josh's mouth carried on moving, but no sound came out. James turned to Chlo.

"Alright, let's go sit down," he said.

"Oh, so now you notice me?" Chlo demanded. "You know what, maybe I'm getting fed up of having a boyfriend who would prefer to get caught up in petty fights rather than spend time with his girlfriend!"  
"So... you don't want to sit with me?" James asked uncertainly.

"Boys!" Chlo exploded, heading for the staircase which led to the girls' dormitories.

"What did I do?" James sighed, sinking back into his armchair as Josh stalked off to the opposite side of the common room to find someone who could undo the silencing charm.

Fred rolled his eyes. "Seriously?" he said. "You _seriously_ need us to tell you what you did?"

"She's fed up that you're always fighting with Josh, and consequently neglecting her," Roxanne explained. "Really James! You're so emotionally obtuse sometimes."

"Cheers," James scowled. "I'm gonna go to bed too. Goodnight."

As James also headed for the stairs to the dormitories, Mia glanced over to where Josh was sitting with his friends, a smug grin on his face.

* * *

The next day, Sunday, Mia decided to write to Will, and ask him for Keeping tips, as well as advice on the James-Josh problem. She was feeling disappointed about losing the Hufflepuff game, but she knew the biggest problem right now was the ongoing feud between James and Josh. The atmosphere in the Common Room last night had been disappointed, but after the argument between James and Josh it had turned decidedly icy. It was affecting everyone; Chlo still wasn't talking to James, Josh had begun to collect a small group of people who were less than pleased with the choice James had made in appointing Lily as Chaser, and Mia had heard Lily tossing and turning long after she'd gone to bed last night.

She wrote her letter in the Inter-House Common room, trying to ignore Mac, who was being unnecessarily gloating about Hufflepuff winning the match. As the gang sat around, doing homework or writing letters, Mac occasionally dropped Hufflepuff's victory into conversation, gloating gleefully about 'Super Shane Hailey'. 'Lovely Lovell', and 'Cool Colleen Creevey', until Louis snapped and told him to shut up.

"I'm just stating a fact," Mac grinned cheekily.

"Yeah, and I'm stating another one," Louis said. "If I hear you mention that Quidditch match one more time, I will hex you."

"And I'll hex you back," Mac responded sweetly, but he stopped talking about it.

Having concluded her letter, Mia stopped and looked around the Inter-House Common Room. James wasn't there – he'd announced his intention to spend all day working in the library. Chlo was there, sat not far from the gang with a group of friends, presumably discussing what idiots boys were. Rose and Scorp were sharing an armchair over the opposite side of the room, half watching a lively game of exploding snap played by what looked like half of the second year. Al was sat a little way away from the gang, helping Cassie with her Transfiguration essay.

Mia sighed and pulled a roll of parchment towards her, and made a start on her own Transfiguration essay.

* * *

Monday dragged by slowly, with a fairly interesting first two periods of Potions and Wizarding Social Studies, followed by double Transfiguration, where Professor Duncan collected in the foot-long essays, declared some of them had writing that was far too large, and decided that the next essay would be a foot and a half, to ensure they all wrote enough. Finally, when the day was almost finished, they had Professor Binns droning on for almost an hour about witch burnings.

There was no specific rule about sitting at your own House table at mealtimes, but it was an unwritten rule that one usually did so. However, when Lily, Mia and Hugo headed to sit opposite Emma, Matilda and JJ at the Gryffindor table at dinner, they found the three first years had already been joined by Archie MacMillan, Louis' 'little brother'. Hugo signalled for Louis to join them, and the four third years sat facing the four first years.

"Guess what? Guess what?" Matilda said.

Lily rolled her eyes. "What? What?"

"Archie's got a book that he got from the Ravenclaw library, and it says about all the creatures you can find in the grounds on in the lake, and we're going to take it outside after dinner and see what we can see."

"Ravenclaw has its own library?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, and it's meant to be a secret," Louis said, glaring at his little brother.

"How was I supposed to know that?" Archie protested. "Anyway, I told the others we could look at it now... I won't tell anyone else, I swear."

"Bit late now," Louis sighed. "So long as the prefects don't catch you with that book – you know you're not supposed to take them out of the Tower."

"Yeah, but I gather that hiding stuff from the prefects is a daily occurrence in Ravenclaw," Archie grinned.

"In _Ravenclaw_?" Hugo said incredulously. "I thought Ravenclaw tower was all calm and quiet, and... studious."

"Hello, have you met me?" Louis asked.

"You should see the prank wars," Archie grinned.

"Archie, shut up," Louis said firmly. "What happens in Ravenclaw stays in Ravenclaw. Someone change the subject."

After dinner, Lily and Mia walked out of the front doors with the four first years. They soon parted, with Lily and Mia heading to the Quidditch pitch for practice, and Emma, Matilda, JJ and Archie heading for the lake.

When Lily and Mia reached the changing rooms, they discovered that they were the last ones – even Samuel had got there before them.

"Alright," James said, once they were all changed. "We're just gonna go out there and play tonight. We're gonna get our spirits back up – remind ourselves how good we are. Yeah, we lost on Saturday, but that doesn't mean we're rubbish, or any of that; just that we got beaten by a team that was better than us. And we've got plenty of time to get our game up before the Ravenclaw game to ensure that we're the better team, but tonight we're just gonna have fun. Let's go."

The team stepped out onto the pitch and proceeded to do just that. They played and fooled around until it felt just like another game in the summer. James, Fred and Lily all played for themselves, each trying to put as many goals past Mia as they could, and gaining ten points each time they did so. Mia also gained ten points every time she saved a goal, and Roxanne and Mary every time a Bludger hit its target. Samuel gained fifty points every time he caught the Snitch, and whoever was holding the Quaffle when Samuel caught the Snitch lost ten points.

At the end of an hour, when James called a halt, they all totalled the points, and James awarded the prize – a bar of Honeydukes chocolate – to Samuel, who had 250 points from catching the Snitch five times. The booby prize – a single blank MI, was awarded to Lily, who, despite scoring four goals, had been unlucky enough to be holding the Quaffle every time Samuel had caught the Snitch, and thus, her final score was minus ten.

The Quidditch practice had its desired effect, and the team all went to bed in far better spirits than when they'd woken up that morning. As Mia snuggled down in her four poster bed, after having decided to tackle her Transfiguration essay another night, she remembered something she'd half forgotten – tomorrow was her fourteenth birthday. This week wasn't turning out to be half bad, she thought.

* * *

A/N: I forgot yesterday, so have two chapters today! They sort of read like one long chapter, anyway. I hope to resume normal posting schedual tomorrow ~ Nat.


	14. Chapter Fourteen: The 10th Anniversary

Chapter Fourteen

The 10th Anniversary

Mia was woken up on the morning of her birthday to Lily jumping on her legs.

"Lily, get off," she moaned, still half asleep. Lily duly 'got off'...and then jumped on again. "What are you doing?" Mia demanded.

"I have to jump on you fourteen times – once for every year you have," Lily explained – if you could call it an explanation.

"No you don't," Mia said firmly, as Lily jumped on her for a third time.

"Yes I do," Lily insisted. "Four – it's a family tradition. James – five - started it."

"Your parents must love that," Alice yawned, sitting up in bed.

"Well, it's a family tradition you can confine to your immediate family," Mia said, pushing Lily onto the floor.

Due to Lily's early awakening, the third year girls were some of the first in the Great Hall for breakfast. They hadn't long sat down when Emma, Matilda, JJ and Archie came in, all soaking wet.

"It's raining," Matilda said, wholly unnecessarily, as the three Gryffindor first years sat down.

"Wow, Matilda, I never would've guessed," Lily said sarcastically.

"What were you even doing outside?" Mia asked.

"Walking," JJ said.

"We _were_ going to take Archie's book out, but he wouldn't let us in the rain," Matilda explained. "So we just went for a walk. Archie says maybe we can write our own book, because that one's really old, and Archie reckons maybe some of the creatures in the grounds are different now, and-"

At this point, Mia tuned out. It was a skill what was necessary to acquire when you were around Matilda for any length of time.

"Happy birthday, Mia," Emma said shyly.

"Thanks," Mia grinned.

"I got you a present," Emma said, handing her a small rectangular parcel, wrapped in yesterday's Daily Prophet. "I didn't have any wrapping paper," she said sheepishly.

Mia opened the parcel to find her a red picture frame, decorated with gold gems. "Wow, Emma, did you make this?" Mia asked.

Emma nodded, blushing. "I asked my mum to send some of my craft stuff from home."

"Thank you," Mia grinned, as the rest of the school started arriving for breakfast.

Mia's first lesson on her birthday was Modern History of Magic. The third years were spending all this term studying Wizarding Britain since 1998 – the end of the Second War. Today, they were working on a project about the tenth anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, in May 2008, by which point all but a handful of the class had been born.

"Everyone get into groups of no less than three, no more than five," Professor Nilsson said. Predictably, Lily, Mia, Hugo and Louis made a four. Then Professor Nilsson spent the first ten minutes of the lesson explaining what he wanted them to do. "Project hand in is two weeks today," he finished up. "There are records in the library which you can access, as well as writing to people to ask for personal accounts."

"My dad can tell us everything," Lily grinned.

"There's a whole lot of information to help you on this roll of parchment," Professor Nilsson said, handing each group a neatly bound scroll. "You have the rest of the lesson to plan what you're going to do and who's doing what. Then for the rest of the Modern History lessons this week and next, you don't need to come to the lesson – you can just get on with your project. If you need me, you'll find me in the library in those lessons."

"Alright," Lily said, as the group turned to each other.

"I have – ahem – a book I could access," Louis said, lowering his voice.

"What, about the 10th Anniversary?" Hugo asked.

Louis nodded. "All the Anniversaries-" he lowered his voice even more "-there are Ravenclaw records."

"What, in the Ravenclaw library?" Lily asked.

"Shut up," Louis hissed. "Non-Ravenclaw's aren't supposed to know about it – don't go shouting about it."

"Sorry," Lily sighed, rolling her eyes. "So you'll look at it, make some notes?"

"Uh-huh," Louis nodded.

Mia unrolled the scroll that Professor Nilsson had given them.

"There are the names of the Head Boy and Head Girl from that year on here," she said. "D'you think they'd tell us what they said in their tributes if we wrote and asked them?"

"I guess it'd be worth asking," Louis shrugged. "They could only say no."

"I think we should do a bit on what's changed, and what's stayed the same, in the Wizarding World between 1998 and 2008," Hugo said. "You know, like a fact file, with two columns, one for '98 and one for '08."

"That can be your job, then," Louis grinned.

"Alright," Hugo shrugged. "And Mia, I guess you better write the letters to... Daisy Zeller and James Paige."

"I wouldn't know what to write," Mia protested. "It's a bit weird to just write to someone you've never met and ask them for something – it would feel a bit cheeky."

"Lily can help you, then," Louis said. "She's good at cheeky."

"Hey!" Lily scowled at her cousin. "You're mean... but I guess I can help."

"So, we've all got stuff to do... like as homework," Hugo said. "And the next lesson we can meet in the library, and see what we've all found out."

The Gryffindors' next lesson was Defence Against the Dark Arts. Lily, Mia and Hugo said goodbye to Louis at the end of the corridor, as he was heading out to the grounds and Herbology. In Defence Against the Dark Arts, Mia sat down next to Cassie, as her friend smiled,

"Happy Birthday, Mia."

"Thank you," Mia smiled back.

"Have you had a good day so far?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah, pretty good," Mia nodded.

After that, the day seemed to fly by, with Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures and Potions rushing past, and almost before she knew it, Mia's birthday was almost over, and she and the rest of the gang were sat in the Inter-House Common Room, passing around hunks of birthday cake, which Mac had provided.

"I propose that if it's someone's birthday, no one should do any homework," Mac yawned, stretching out in an armchair and winking at Zoe, who giggled.

"But it's always someone's birthday somewhere," Alexander pointed out.

"I meant in the gang," Mac told him.

"Well, that's still an awful lot of birthdays," Alexander reasoned, not wanting to be defeated. "Thirteen..ish – depending on who you count."

"Who are you counting to make thirteen?" Mac demanded.

"Me, Kieran, Hugo, Lily, Mia, Rachel, Alice, Frankie, Zoe, Cassie, you, Louis... and Ailie." He grinned at his younger sister, a second year who tended to hang out with the gang.

"Me and Frankie have the same birthday," Alice reminded him. "We're twins, duh!"

"Yeah, and several people have birthdays in the holidays," Mac pointed out. "Me, for one. Therefore, my point stands."

"Well, I for one aren't going to be doing any homework tonight," Lily sighed. "I'm all homeworked out."

"How can you be?" Mia demanded. "You didn't do any yesterday either. You know we should probably write those letters – get them off first thing."

"What letters?" Kieran asked.

"Not telling," Mia smirked – she wasn't about to let another group get hold of her idea about writing to the Head Boy and Head Girl from the 10th Anniversary year.

"I suppose we'd better," Lily sighed. "Alright, come on then, Mia."  
Lily and Mia left the gang, and found themselves a quiet corner where they could write their letters in peace. They worked together, to decide on the content and wording, each writing one letter and then signing both.

"Think we'll get any replies?" Lily asked, as they addressed the envelopes and stowed them away in Mia's bag.

"Maybe," Mia shrugged. "But it's worth a try." She looked at her watch. "It's twenty past eight – we ought to be heading up to Gryffindor tower."

She and Lily headed over to rejoin the gang, most of whom were preparing to go back to their own House Common Rooms.

"Ailie, you're a second year," Lily said.

"I know..." Ailie said, confused.

"So you should've been back in Gryffindor tower twenty minutes ago," Lily pointed out.

"Damn – I forgot," Ailie said.

"If we all just walk in a big group, then if we run into a teacher, no one will notice you," Alexander suggested.

Everyone fell in with Alexander's suggestion, and, bidding goodbye to Louis, Mac, Zoe and Cassie, the Gryffindors proceeded up to their tower without mishap. They even passed Professors Cooke and Reuben on the fifth floor, but they didn't seem to notice Ailie – only ushered the third years to hurry up because curfew was approaching.

* * *

The next morning at breakfast, Louis came and joined Lily, Mia and Hugo at the Gryffindor table.

"I've been reading the Ravenclaw records," he said in a hushed voice. "There's loads of stuff in there – someone even bothered to describe the Minister's dress robes."

Lily giggled. "Well, Mia and I sent Venus and Felix off with the letters first thing."

They all looked at Hugo. "I haven't done much yet," he said "-I was busy with my Muggle Studies homework. But I did make a list of the things I think we need in the fact-file."

He pulled a scrap of parchment out of his pocket, not unlike one on which Al kept a tally of all Rose and Scorp's break-ups and make-ups, upon which he'd written: 'Minister for Magic, Head Boy/Head Girl, Hogwarts teachers, typical wage for Ministry worker'.

"There probably ought to be more, but I couldn't think of any," Hugo said. "I also think we should have the number of people who attended each Victory Day, but I've got no idea where I'd find that."  
"Ravenclaw library," Louis hissed. "I'll find it for you."

"How old is this library of yours?" Lily demanded.

Louis shrugged. "The Hogwarts records go back steadily to about the 1760's – they're a bit sporadic before then. But some of the other books are quite a lot order."

"Snog alert," Hugo sighed, rolling his eyes. Lily, Mia and Louis, who were all sat opposite him, turned around to look. Sure enough, Mac and Zoe were sat at the neighbouring Hufflepuff table, kissing.

"Seriously?" Louis said. "What is it with him and my ex-girlfriends? First Dove, and now Zoe..."

"Who d'you reckon Mac wants to date next?" Lily giggled. "You need to find out, and date her first."

"Hmm..." was all that Louis would say.


	15. Chapter Fifteen: Letters

Chapter Fifteen

Letters

If Mia might've predicted Mac and Zoe getting together, she never would've guessed the next couple. She and Lily came down to breakfast a week later, to find Hugo and Rachel sat at the far end of the Gryffindor table, holding hands.

"I thought you were too young for a girlfriend?" Lily demanded of Hugo, marching over to the pair.

"Maybe back when I was only twelve," Hugo shrugged. "But I'm thirteen-and-a-half now."

Lily rolled her eyes, and she and Mia went to sit further along the table, opposite Emma, Matilda and JJ.

"Lily," Matilda began, almost before her 'big sister' had sat down.

"Yes, Matilda?" Lily sighed.

"I didn't know your dad was Harry Potter," Matilda said. "Well, I did, but I didn't know he was _Harry Potter_ – I mean, I didn't realise why he was so famous; he saved the entire Wizarding World!"

"Yeah, yeah, he's very famous," Lily said distractedly, helping herself to eggs and bacon.

"I wouldn't say the entire Wizarding World..." JJ mused. "I mean, Voldermort's rule didn't really go beyond Britain, did it?"

"But it might've done, later, if Lily's dad hadn't stopped him," Matilda reasoned.

"Maybe," JJ shrugged.

Whilst Lily, Matilda and JJ discussed Voldermort, Mia asked Emma if she was okay.

Emma nodded. "I think I'm getting used to Hogwarts."

"Good," Mia smiled. "Yeah, it was strange, finding out I was a witch, but then it made so much sense too, don't you think?"

Emma thought for a minute. Eventually she nodded. "Yeah. It almost feels like... like I should've known all along."

"D'you think your brother and sisters might be magical too?" Mia asked.

Emma shook her head. "Their dad's not my dad – I've never met my dad, and I think he might be a Wizard."

"It's possible," Mia shrugged. "But then I guess it's equally possible that the magical gene is dormant in your mum's family, and then your brother and sisters could turn out to be witches and wizards too. I know the magic gene comes from my dad's family, because my great-aunt – Lily's grandma – was a witch too."

"Maybe..." Emma said. "I still think my dad's a wizard, and one day he'll turn up and-" she paused, as if searching for the right word, or else trying to decide how much to tell. She was saved from having to finish her sentence, however, by the arrival of several hundred post owls.

Mia's owl, Felix, landed on the table, bearing a letter addressed to both her and Lily.

"Oooh, maybe it's a reply about the 10th Anniversary," Lily said excitedly, after remembering to check that there weren't any other third years near them.

Mia opened the letter, as one of the school barn owls landed with a letter for Emma. Lily and Mia's letter was from James Paige, who had been Head Boy at the time of the 10th Anniversary. He'd outlined what he'd said in his tribute, as well as giving them sundry other details he could remember from the day, winding up by encouraging them to write to him again if there was anything else they wanted to know. All in all, it was a very helpful letter.

Mia looked up to ask Emma if her letter had been news from home, to discover that the younger girl had disappeared.

"Where did Emma go?" she asked.

Matilda shrugged. "She read her letter and then just left."

"I'd better go find her," Mia said. "It might be had news from home or something."

She got up, and was about to head out into the Entrance Hall when James called her name. He, Fred and Chris were sat a few places further up from Lily, Mia and the first years, intently studying a piece of parchment which Mia had originally taken to be class notes.

"You're looking for your little sister?" James asked. "Emma...?"

"Emma Payne, yeah," Mia said. "D'you know where she went?"

"No, but I can find out," James replied. He consulted the piece of parchment for a full minute, and then announced, "she's in the Inter-House Common Room, by herself."

"How do you-" Mia began, but James cut across her.

"Another time," he said. "I'd go after her, if I were you. Kid looked pretty upset when she went past."

Mia hurried up to the second floor, where she found Emma sobbing in a corner of the deserted Inter-House Common Room.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Mia asked, sitting down on the floor opposite Emma.

"Nothing," Emma sniffed. "Go away."

"Who was your letter from?" Mia persisted.

"Eddie," Emma told her. "My brother."

"What did he say?" Mia asked.

"Nothing..." Emma said. "Nothing much – it just... it just made me realise how much I miss them."

Mia felt there was something more to it. She eyed Emma intently. "Are you sure there's nothing wrong at home?" she asked eventually.

Emma nodded vigorously, almost before Mia had finished her question. "I'm sure."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Mia still wasn't sure she believed her, but she had to take Emma's word for it.

"What's your first lesson?" Mia asked.

"Charms," Emma told her, rubbing her eyes.

"I'll walk you there," Mia offered. "Let me just send a MI to Lily." Mia hastily scribbled the note to Lily telling her what she was doing, and asking her to bring some toast to History of Magic, since Mia had barely begun her breakfast when she'd gone after Emma. Mia folded the MI into a paper aeroplane and launched it, before turning back to Emma.

"Come on, then; let's get you to Charms." She reached out a hand, and Emma allowed her to puller to her feet.

Mia escorted Emma to Charms, leaving her with Matilda and JJ, and then proceeded to History of Magic, where she tacked onto the back of the line which was trudging into Binns' classroom.

Lily was sat in her usual place, right at the back, with Louis in front of her – Hugo and Rachel were sat together a few desks away. Mia sat down at her desk, behind a large stack of toast.

"Thanks," she grinned at Lily.

Lily grinned back. "How's Emma?"

Mia shrugged. "She says she's just homesick, but-"

"She's probably just realising that it's still two months til Christmas," Lily suggested.

"Maybe," Mia shrugged, but she still had a feeling that there was something more to it.

* * *

As she sat with the gang in the Inter-House Common Room that evening, Mia noticed how they were all beginning to pair off: Mac and Zoe; Hugo and Rachel; Kieran and Frankie; Alice and Andy Cattermole, who'd been essentially co-opted into the gang when Alice had asked him out in the third week of term.

"I guess we're all just getting to that age..." Lily mused when Mia pointed it out to her.

"What about you?" Mia asked.

Lily surveyed the room. "Nope," she said at length. "No guys I'm interested in. Yet."

"Yet?" Mia asked.

"Yeah, yet," Lily said. "I'm sure there will be one day, but not yet... Who's Louis flirting with?"

The two of them turned to look. Louis was sat with a group which included Alexander, Ailie, Mac, Zoe, Frankie, Kieran and Cassie. Louis was running his fingers through his silvery-blonde hair, a blatant sign that he was flirting. Mia also notice he had his 'The girls only like me because of my Veela hair' badge, which Hugo had made him, pinned to his robes.

"Looks like Ailie," Mia said, after a few minutes of watching the group.

"Ailie?" Lily asked. "But she's just a kid."

"Same age Dove was when Louis asked her out last year," Mia pointed out.

"Yeah, but the age-gap..." Lily protested.

"Isn't that big," Mia told her. "It's only like Mac and Zoe, since Mac's a fourth year."  
"Yeah, but Mac's birthday's August – he's nearly in our year," Lily said. "Louis will be fourteen next month – Ailie's still only twelve."

"My mum's nearly three years older than my dad..." Mia shrugged. "I guess the age gap doesn't matter was much as who the people are. And once you get to our parents' age, even like a five-year age gap doesn't really mean anything."

"But Louis and Ailie!?"


	16. Chapter Sixteen: Halloween

Chapter Sixteen

Halloween

The third years' Modern History of Magic projects had to be handed in on the following Tuesday, the last in October, accompanied by a brief presentation to the rest of the class. Lily and Mia were unhappy to discover that Alice, Frankie, Rachel, Kieran and Andy had also written to James Paige. At lunch, Lily accused Hugo of suggesting the idea to Rachel.

"I did not!" Hugo said indignantly. "We've never even talked about the Modern History project. And anyway, it was a week between you sending your letter and getting a reply. Rachel and I have only been going out six days – if I had told her, she wouldn't've had time to write, and get a reply. They must've thought of it ages ago, about the same time Mia did."

"Point," Louis said – he'd taken to sitting with Lily, Mia and Hugo at the Gryffindor table, so that he could pull faces at Ailie.

"Hmm..." Lily said.

"Hmm yourself," Hugo retorted. "I didn't say a word to Rachel about our Modern History Project – or anyone's Modern History Project, for that matter – and that's all that needs saying. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to sit with my girlfriend."

He got up and walked to the other end of the table, where he joined Rachel, Alice, Frankie and Kieran.

* * *

By Friday evening, Lily and Hugo had made up (although not until Andy Cattermole had come to Lily – urged on by Rachel, through Alice – and told her that writing to the former Head-Boy had been his idea), and the gang were sat in the Inter-House Common Room together.

"You know, I reckon this next week is gonna be one of the best weeks of the year," Louis said. "The Halloween Feast on Saturday, my birthday on Sunday, the fireworks thing on Thursday, and then Hogsmede the following Saturday."

"What fireworks thing?" Ailie demanded.

"The Big Sibling-Little Sibling bonfire night," Alexander told her. "First and third years only."

"But I'm a little sbiling," Ailie protested. "I had a big sibling last year."

"Yeah, but if they let you lot come, then eventually when the whole school'd been through the sibling thing, so you'd have to let everyone come," Louis reasoned.

"And I'm not allowed to go to Hogsmede," Ailie whined. "I wish I was a third year."  
"You will be next year," Louis told her. " _And_ you'll have a little sibling of your very own."

Ailie was about to reply when an argument broke out, not far from them. Rose and Scorpius, whom the third years had seen comparatively little of this term, since this was their OWL year, were screaming at each other, and the whole room had stopped to listen.

"Just because you're stressed out about exams, doesn't give you the right to have a go at me all the flipping time!" Scorp was yelling.

"Who says I'm stressed?!" Rose yelled back.

"You do!" Scorp flung back at her. "And it's turning you into a right moody cow!"

"Oh, is that what you think of me?" Rose demanded.

"Yeah. It is. And if you don't like that, then maybe you should stop _being_ a moody cow – stop biting my head off whenever I offer you help."

"I don't need your help," Rose stormed, getting to her feet. "And cow's teeth aren't adequately formed for head-biting."

"Here comes the break-up," Al grinned at Cassie, whose Transfiguration essay he was reading, as several members of the gang sniggered.

"You know what, Malfoy – if that's what you think of me, then maybe we're through!" Rose shouted.

"Maybe?" Scorp asked, his mouth curling into the faintest hint of a smile.

"Yeah. Maybe." Rose turned on her heels and marched out of the Inter-House Common Room.

"How long do we reckon that will last?" Mac asked with a grin.

"Two days?" Lily yawned. "Three at most."

"They haven't even exactly broken up," Mia pointed out. "Rose only said 'maybe'."

"I'm not even sure you could exactly call _any_ of their break-ups proper break-ups," Hugo reasoned. "We all know they never mean it."

* * *

At the Halloween feast on Saturday night, Lily, Mia, Hugo and Louis (along with Rachel and Ailie – who wasn't technically going out with Louis, but was spending a lot of time with him nonetheless) sat with Matilda, Emma, JJ and Archie. Matilda was positively bouncing with excitement, and JJ and Archie weren't far off.

"Is it true there'll be real live bats there?" Matilda had asked Lily at breakfast.

"Yes," Lily had sighed boredly.

"And ghosts?"

"Yes."

"All the ghosts – not just the House ghosts?"

"Yes, Matilda."

Now, Matilda was bouncing around in her seat, craning her neck to look at the ceiling of the Great Hall which reflected the night sky outside. Several hundred live bats hung from the ceiling – JJ and Archie were attempting to count them all.

Matilda let out a deep sigh. "I love Hogwarts," she said.

Lily rolled her eyes. "We know."

"If this is what Hogwarts is like at Halloween, I can't wait to see what it's like at Christmas," Matilda continued, oblivious to Lily – Hugo had once said that she didn't need someone to talk _to_ as much to talk _at_.

"You aren't staying at Hogwarts over Christmas, are you?" JJ asked her.

"No, but I guess the decorations will go up before the holidays start, won't they?" Matilda asked. Then, without waiting for an answer, she ploughed on, "Does Hogwarts decorate for other occasions, like Valentines, and Easter, and Mid-Summer?"

"Matilda?" Lily said.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

Matilda poked her tongue out at his 'big sister', and then turned to Archie, and asked him, in what she clearly considered to be an undertone, about what other books he might be able to find in the Ravenclaw library.

Rose and Scorp were, predictably, sat at a neighbouring table, snogging – they'd made up at some point during the afternoon. James and Chlo were not snogging. They'd had a massive argument that afternoon, and whilst they were sat at the same table, not far from the first and third years, they were being icily polite to each other, or else communicating through Fred and Chris.

"People," Matilda said abruptly and urgently, turning away from Archie and towards the rest of the table.

"You generally find people in the Great Hall, yes," Hugo grinned.

"Except in the middle of the night," Louis put in.

"Or during lessons," Ailie added.

"Yeah, you're less likely to find people then," Hugo assented.

Matilda was barely listening to the teasing. "People!" she said more urgently. "D'you think those bats are free to come and go as they please, or d'you think there's some kind of spell that's stopping them flying away?"

"Let's hope there's something stopping them swooping down here," Lily shuddered. "I'm sure I don't want one flying on my head."

"But that's not fair-!" Matilda began.

"What, that Lily should rather her head wasn't the focal point for bat gymnastics?" Louis grinned, which made Ailie giggle.

"No, if they're not allowed to go where they want, then that's kidnap – false imprisonment!"

The third years and Ailie all laughed, and JJ sniggered too, but the other three were resolute.

"It's slavery," Matilda said. "How would you like to be made to hang upside-down from the ceiling, whether you wanted to or not, just for our amusement?"

"I have to ensure Matilda never meets my mother," Hugo muttered to Mia, who was sat next to him. "Imagine what Matilda'd be like if she got her started on the house elves..."

"Matilda," Lily said, interrupting the younger girl in the middle of a lengthy explanation of precisely why keeping animals – or plants for that matter – in captivity was slavery ("Bet you're a delight to take to the zoo," Louis grinned).

"Mmm?" Matilda said.

"No one cares," Lily told her firmly. "Shut up."

"But people should care," Matilda began.

"Perhaps you should go and take it up with McGonagall..." Ailie suggested innocently.

Despite Matilda's continual mutterings about the ethics of keeping bats in captivity, everyone enjoyed the Halloween feast, and headed up to bed in high spirits. The next morning, Louis' birthday, when the gang headed up to the Inter-House Common Room after breakfast to get on with some homework, they found Ailie lying on a sofa, her head in Louis' lap. He was playing with her hair, whilst simultaneously reading _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Three._

"Are you two going out, or what?" Alexander demanded, walking over to the pair.

As a response, and barely taking his eyes off his book, Louis kissed Ailie's forehead, making her giggle.

Alexander sighed. "Fair enough," he said. "But if you hurt her, I hurt you, got it?"

"Got it," Louis yawned, as the rest of the gang grinned and sniggered at the idea of tiny Alexander 'hurting' Louis, who'd recently overtaken Zoe as the tallest member of the third year.

"I notice how you tactfully asked her out on your birthday so she wouldn't say no," Hugo grinned later, when he, Lily, Mia and Louis had braved the biting wind for a walk around the lake.

"I don't need it to be my birthday to get a girl to go out with me," Louis protested.

"Point," Hugo shrugged. "You do have the Veela hair, after all."

"Girls don't just like me because of my hair," Louis protested, directly contradicting the badge prominently pinned to his croak. "It's my natural charm."

"Sure it is," Mia said, as Lily coughed 'Veela hair'.


	17. Chapter Seventeen: Fireworks

Chapter Seventeen

Fireworks

The following Thursday was the 5th of November, Bonfire Night. The Heads of House – Professors Longbottom, Cook, Flitwick and Hawksworth – had organised a bonfire and fireworks in the grounds for all the first and third years. So, after lessons, Lily and Matilda, Mia and Emma, Hugo and JJ, and Louis and Archie headed out of the oak front doors and into the grounds.

Matilda, as usual, was asking question after question.

"Will there be magical fireworks?" she asked. "What even is the difference between magical and Muggle fireworks? And who's letting the fireworks off? Will there be a guy? Surely it's not environmentally friendly to make a bonfire. I suppose it's better if the wood you use is dead wood, instead of cutting down trees... but it's still releasing unnecessary-"

"Matilda?" Lily said.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

"Oooh, oooh, shhhh!" Matilda said suddenly, her voice dropping to a whisper.

"You're the only one talking," Archie pointed out unhelpfully.

"Shhh!" Matilda repeated, more quietly, but much more urgently. She pointed to a spot at the edge of the forest. In the twilight, all Mia could see was the wind.

"What?" Mia asked, screwing up her eyes and trying to see what Matilda was pointing at.

"Horse," Matilda mouthed. "Black. Wings."

Mia had never known Matilda so quiet, using so few words when more could've been squeezed in. Everyone had stopped walking now, all staring fixatedly at the point where Matilda claimed to have seen a winged, black horse."

"And invisible horse, more like," JJ grumbled. "C'mon, we're gonna be late for the fireworks."

Matilda held a silent, angry finger up to her lips, her eyes flashing.

"Oh!" Louis said suddenly, realisation dawning across his face. "Matilda, who have you seen die?"

"You've scared it away, idiot!" Matilda said, snapping back to her usual self. "And if you must know, when I was eight, I was in hospital to have my appendix out, and the man in the next bed died. So there. Not that it's any of your business."

"But that's why you saw the thestral – because your saw someone die," Louis explained. "And you guys-" he looked around at Lily, Mia and Hugo "-are idiots not to have realised that's what it was."

"Of course!" Lily said, as they started walking again. "Thestrals pull the carriages that bring us up to school at the start of term, but you won't have seen them yet, Matilda, because first years go in the boats."

"It was beautiful," Matilda sighed.

"I wouldn't exactly call them beautiful," Louis said.

"How would you know?" Hugo demanded.

"There's a drawing, in the Ravenclaw library," Louis explained. "They're rather more ugly than beautiful, I think. They're almost like skeletons – can't see what you see in them, Matilda."

But Matilda wasn't listening to him – she was still caught up I her Thestral dream. "...and it had gorgeous big black wings... Can they fly?" she asked the group at large as they neared the large bonfire that stood blazing not far from Hagrid's hut on the edge of the forest.

"Obviously," Louis drawled. "You've said it yourself – they have wings, don't they?"

"Yeah, but so do penguins, and they can't fly," Matilda reasoned.

"Point," Louis sighed.

"...and ostriches, and emus, and-"

"Yeah, alright, alright!"

By this point, they'd reached the bonfire, where about fifty first and third years were already gathered. The rest, Mia could see when she looked behind her, were coming out of the castle in dribs and drabs, big sibling with little sibling.

The four Heads of House were visible, dotted around the bonfire, their faces illuminated by the flickering light. A handful of other teachers were there too – Hagrid was super-intending the bonfire; Professor Nilsson was consulting with Professors Longbottom and Hawksworth in a fenced off area a little way away, where Mia guessed the fireworks were going to be lit; and Professor Reuben was helping Professor Cooke hand out hot dogs, popcorn and toffee apples.

"C'mon, let's go get something to eat," Lily said, tugging on Mia's arm. The two of them joined the queue for food, their little sisters following, whilst the boys gravitated in the direction of the fireworks.

"They won't get very close," Lily predicted. "Uncle Neville – uh – Professor Longbottom – won't let them."

"Professor Longbottom's your uncle?" Matilda asked.

"No, but he's my brother Al's godfather, and so we've always called him 'uncle', and sometimes I... forget," Lily explained.

The fireworks were being set off at eight o'clock, so at ten to everyone started gathering around the fenced off area where Professors Longbottom, Hawksworth and Nilsson were.

"I hope they are magical fireworks," Matilda was babbling. "Muggle fireworks are nice, but magical fireworks must be much more exciting... Lily, did you say your uncle sells really cool magical fireworks?"

"Mmm-hmm," Lily nodded. "Weasley's Wildfire Whizz-bangs. I hope it is them – they really drove good old Dr Filibuster out of business."

"Who's Dr Filibuster?" JJ asked – he was stood with the girls since Hugo had gone off with Rachel.

"Precisely," Lily said.

When they were all assembled, Professor Longbottom, his voice magnified by the sonorous charm, called for silence.

"Can I just remind you to stay behind the fence," he said, and Alexander, Kieran and their little brothers, stood next to Lily, Mia, Matilda, Emma and JJ, stopped preparing to crawl under the fence.

"You can't see properly from here," Alexander grumbled.

"If you want to see better you need to get nearer to the sky than where the fireworks are being set off from," Matilda reasoned. Alexander poked his tongue out at her.

Professor Longbottom let off the first firework, and Alexander and Matilda forgot entirely about their argument, as a massive green and black dragon exploded out from a single spot. For the next fifteen minutes, the first and third years were entertained by Catherine wheels which spiralled across the grounds, sparklers which moved as if held by an invisible hand, fireworks which whizzed into the air silently, but then exploded in a deafening crack and a shower of sparks. There was a full thirty seconds silence after the last bang had faded away, and then a magnificent red-and-gold phoenix rose silently from the ashes, getting higher and bigger until it slowly faded away into nothing.

* * *

The following evening, Friday, the third years gathered in the Inter-House Common Room, and discussed the following day's trip to Hogsmede.

"Hugo won't come round with us because he's going with Rachel," Louis grimaced at Lily and Mia.

"Yeah, but you'd be going with Ailie if you could..." Mia reasoned.

"Obviously," Louis grinned, his arm around Ailie's shoulders. "But, silly person that she is, she decided to be born in the wrong year."

"If I was two months younger, I'd be a first year," Ailie reminded him. "I'd have to be Alexander's twin to be in your year."

"Whatever," Louis rolled his eyes at Ailie, and then turned to Lily and Mia. "Let's see if we can get some other people to come around with us. Kieran! Come round Hogsmede with me, Lily and Mia?"

"Can't, mate," Kieran shrugged.

'Going with Frankie,' Louis mimed, as Kieran said the words.

"Alexander?"

"Yeah, I'll come."  
"Alice? Going with Andy. Zoe? Going with Mac... what's wrong with you guys? Cassie! Cassie, you'll come round Hogsmede with me, Lily and Mia, won't you?"

"No," Cassie said, shaking her head.

"What – you're not planning on trying to not go again, are you?" Louis demanded.

Cassie shook her head again, blushing. "No, I'm... I'm going with Al."  
"With Al?!" Lily exploded. "Why?"

"Because he asked me..." Cassie said quietly, suddenly aware that everyone was looking at her.

"Does this mean you're going out now, or what?" Lily demanded.

"Yeah," Cassie nodded shyly, her face bright red.

"He's ages older than you..." Lily said.

"Not that ages," Mia reasoned. "Louis is loads more older than Ailie than Al is Cassie."

"And that has to be about the worst constructed sentence I've ever heard," Louis grinned.

Al wandered over from the other side of the common room, where he'd been sitting with Rose, who'd broken up with Scorpius over dinner, very noisily.

"Hey, who's making my girlfriend blush?" he demanded with a grin.

"You are," Mia told him.

"Sorry about that, honey," Al said, perching on the arm of Cassie's chair, and making her go even redder, if that were possible.

"Since when have you two even been going out, anyway?" Lily demanded. "I've been trying _forever_ to get you to tell me who you liked."

"Since yesterday," Al grinned. "Hey, Cas – you want me to take another look at your Transfiguration essay?"

"Please," Cassie nodded, and the two of them got up and set themselves up at a table a little way away.

"Well!" Lily exclaimed. "There's one pairing I never would've guessed!"


	18. Chapter Eighteen: Going Home?

Chapter Eighteen

Going Home?

Mia was sitting with Lily in the Gryffindor Common Room late one evening in the first week of December when Matilda came running down from the girls' dormitories. The Common Room was nearly empty – it had just gone eleven o'clock, and the only reason Mia was still up was because she had been helping Lily look for her Transfiguration textbook, which they had been unable to find.

"I don't understand where it can have got to," Lily mused.

"Mmm," Mia agreed. "I would say textbooks can't just grow legs and run away, but I wouldn't put it past them in the magical world."

Matilda raced across the Common Room and came to a stop before Lily and Mia.

"You guys need to come now!" she said insistently.

"What is it, another thestral?" Lily grinned.

"A tree?" Mia suggested sweetly.

"No, it's Emma," Matilda told them.

"Emma?" Mia got to her feet. "What's wrong?"

"She got a letter – I think it's from home – and she's just crying, and she won't tell me what's wrong, and I think something bad must've happened, but she says she's fine."

By this point, the three of them had reached the foot of the spiral staircase which led up to the girls' dormitories.

"We'll follow you," Mia said, and Matilda led the way up to the first years' room, two floors below Lily and Mia's.

Emma was lying face-down on her bed, sobbing uncontrollably into her pillow. The other three members of the dormitory were gathered around her, trying to comfort her.

"Mind out of the way!" Matilda commanded, kicking a wooden box under Emma's bed and out of the way so Mia could get closer to Emma.

Mia knelt down beside Emma's bed and rested a hand on the younger girl's back.

Emma started, and turned her head slightly so Mia could see her face; red, blotchy and tear stained.

"What's wrong?" Mia asked.

"Nothing," Emma sobbed.

"Looks like it," Lily commented from the doorway.

Mia turned around and glared at her, and she subsided.

"Emma..." Mia repeated, rubbing Emma's back – her whole body was still heaving with sobs.

Wordlessly, Emma handed Mia a crumpled sheet of paper which she'd been lying on. As Mia read the half-page letter, she was vaguely aware of Lily in the background,

"Come on, then you lot – back to bed, nothing to see here."

'Dear Emma,' the letter read. 'Regretfully, your mother and I are unable to arrange for you to return for the Christmas holidays – the cost of transporting you from London to Cornwall more than once a year is insurmountable. You will therefore stay at school for the holiday period. We will see you in the summer. Steve.'

"I have to go home for Christmas," Emma sobbed, once she'd seen that Mia had read the letter. "I can't stay here! I hate Hogwarts! I wish I'd never found out I was a witch! I want to go home!"

Mia could tell Emma was working herself into a panic again.

"Emma, breathe," she said, gently but firmly.

Emma shook her head furiously. "I can't!"

"You need to calm down, and then we can talk about it," Mia said, trying to keep calm, when she herself was starting to panic. Last time Emma had had a panic attack, Professor Cooke had calmed her down, but now Professor Cooke was the other side of the castle, and Mia was on her own.

"There's nothing to talk about," Emma sobbed. "I'm stuck here until next summer!"

Lily came across the room, and sat cross-legged on Emma's bed.

"Sit up," she commanded, and Emma, her breath still coming out in sobs and gasps, obeyed. "Now take my hands, and breathe with me."

She reached out and took Emma's hot, clammy hands in her cool, smooth ones. Then she started breathing, slowly, deeply and deliberately. Emma began to copy her, and, two minutes later, they were breathing in sync.

"Okay?" Lily asked, and Emma nodded. Lily let go of her hands and stood up.

"How did you know to do that?" Mia asked.

Lily shrugged. "When I was little, I used to get so mad at James for winding me up, that I couldn't breathe properly. That's what Al always used to do to get me breathing properly again."

"Emma," Mia said. "I promise you I'll do my best to sort this out."

"But what can you do?" Emma asked, sat on her bed, hugging her knees.

"I'll go and talk to Professor Longbottom," Mia said decisively. "I'm sure he'll be able to do something."

"He'll know what to do," Lily agreed.

"Maybe... maybe someone could apperate you home?" Mia suggested, trying to find something which would reassure Emma enough so that she'd be able to go to sleep.

"Yeah, I bet like my dad would if Uncle Neville asked him," Lily said, seizing on the idea.

"D'you think...?" Emma asked.

"For sure," Lily nodded. "Now go to sleep... all you horrible little goblins."

The other members of the dormitory giggled and Lily and Mia headed for the door.

"Mattie?" Lily said as they passed Matilda's bed.

"Mmm?" Matilda said sleepily.

"You did good – coming to find us," Lily told her.

Matilda grinned. Then she asked, "Lily, what's 'apperate'?"

"I'll tell you some other time," Lily sighed. "Goodnight."

* * *

Mia was true to her word, and, next morning, after a hasty breakfast, she headed down to the greenhouses, where she hoped to find Professor Longbottom preparing for his lessons, since he'd left the staff table just as she was starting her breakfast.

Sure enough, she found him in Greenhouse Five, wrestling with a plant Mia didn't recognise. She knocked on the door, and waited for him to open the door.

"Good morning, Mia – what can I do for you?" he asked, exiting the greenhouse and locking the door behind him. "Come next door – I'm not allowed to let anyone below NEWT level near the Devil's Snare."

Mia followed him next door to Greenhouse Four, where the third years had been working for most of the term.

"I... wanted to talk to you about my little sister, Emma Payne," Mia said. Now she was here, she wasn't sure what to say. "She got a letter from her step-dad, saying she can't go home for Christmas, cuz they can't afford it. She's really upset, and I just wondered... if there was any way you could arrange for her to get home."

"Do you know exactly what her step-father said?" Professor Longbottom asked, leaning against the workbenches.

"Something like the cost of her coming home more than once a year was... is... insurmountable," Mia told him. "She gave me the letter to read – it was really... polite."

"Polite?" Professor Longbottom asked.

Mia nodded – she couldn't think of any other way to put it, but she couldn't imagine her dad writing to her like that, all polite and cold, exchanging affection for eloquence.

"I'll see what I can do," Professor Longbottom promised. "I'll talk to Emma later, and then I'll see what I can do."

"Lily said maybe we could see if someone could apperate her home," Mia suggested. "She said her dad probably would, if someone asked him.

"I'll sort it," Professor Longbottom said. "You don't have to worry about it anymore. Now you'd better get off to your lesson."

Mia hurried up to the castle, and slipped into History of Magic a few minutes late. Professor Binns, floating at the front of the classroom, didn't even notice as she sat down beside Lily at the back of the room.

"Can I share your textbook?" Lily asked.

"What's happened to yours?" Mia asked as she pulled the book out of her bag and put it on the desk between them.

"I'm borrowing it," Louis said, turning around in his seat to face Lily and Mia.

"And what's happened to yours?" Mia asked.

"Disappeared," Louis shrugged. "It's probably disappeared into the void beneath my bed, but I couldn't find it this morning."

"Boys," Lily sighed.

"You've lost your Transfiguration book," Mia pointed out.

"Yeah, but at least I know it's not under my bed," Lily retorted.

* * *

Ten days later, at breakfast, Emma bounded up to Mia, in a very un-Emma-ish manner, Matilda following.

"Guess what? Guess what?" she said.

"You're silly and I'm not?" Louis suggested – he and Ailie had taken to taking it in turns to sit at each other's house tables at mealtimes.

"Professor Longbottom's just told me that sometimes when Muggle-Borns live a long way away from London, they arrange transport home for the holidays, so I'm coming on the train with you guys, and then when we get to London, there'll be a portkey that takes me home."

"Hey, Emma, that's great!" Mia grinned. "See, I told you it'd be alright."

"Thank you for talking to Professor Longbottom," Emma said shyly.

"S'alright," Mia shrugged. "With magic, hardly any problems are unsolvable."

"Or at least they wouldn't be, if people actually bothered to make an effort," Matilda huffed.

"What are you on about now?" Lily demanded.

"The environment!" Matilda exploded. "I've been looking into it, and I can't find any magical organisation which plants trees to replace ones they cut down!"

"At least wizards don't use electricity..." Mia reasoned.

"Yeah, but they just use oil lamps, and paraffin heaters, and gas stoves, and wood fires instead. You would've thought that if anyone could sort out sustainable energy, it'd be wizards, but oh no, they're behind the Muggles!"

"Matilda?" Lily said.

"What?"

"Sit down, and shut up."

"You'll be sorry you told me to shut up when the world's natural resources run out, and the ice caps melt, and everywhere floods, and we all die," Matilda muttered, as she sat down and helped herself to some porridge.

* * *

A/N: As you may have noticed, I can't count, and posted chapter seventeen instead of chapter sixteen last week. That's now fixed, and here's Chapter Eighteen too ~ Nat


	19. Chapter Nineteen: Fires, Floo, and

Chapter Nineteen

Fires, Floo, and Snowball Fights

On the first day of the Christmas holidays, Lily, Mia, Matilda and Emma boarded a Thestral-drawn carriage, which was to take them to Hogsmede station to catch the Hogwarts Express back to London. It had been difficult for Lily to persuade Matilda to stop stroking the Thestral and get in the carriage, but it had eventually been achieved by threatening to leave her behind.

"I love Christmas," Lily sighed, as the carriage rattled its way towards the station. "Family Christmases are legend... hey Matilda, are your parents vegetarians too?"

"Yeah – we all believe it's unethical to eat other living beings," Matilda said.

"Aren't plants alive?" Mia asked.

That appeared to floor Matilda momentarily. "Ye-es..." she admitted reluctantly. "I'll have to ask my mum about that – she knows stuff."

Lily giggled.

They soon reached Hogsmede Station, and boarded the Hogwarts Express. Lily and Mia said goodbye to Matilda and Emma in the corridor, because the extended Weasley family had a tradition of all travelling back to London together before the Christmas holidays.

"Our last Christmas a students, Freddie," James sighed.

"Never again will we share the Christmas compartment," Fred agreed sadly.

"Maybe there'll be a bit more legroom once you two trolls have left," Roxanne grinned. "Ow!" she added, as her brother tugged on one of her braids.

"There was plenty of room before you little brats showed up," James told her. "Back in the good old days when it was just me, Fred, Vic, Dom and Molly. Then Al and Rose showed up, then Roxy and Luce, and then you four little goblins."

"Fine, we'll just leave then," Hugo shrugged. "I have a girlfriend I could sit with..."

"You break a family tradition and I'll break your... finger," James said.

"My finger?" Hugo queried.

"Yeah," James nodded. "I learnt a nasty little hex in Defence Against the Dark Arts last week."

"Which Davy Walker taught you under the table," Fred grinned.

"It was still _in_ Defence Against the Dark Arts," James protested.

"And which resulted in both of you having to go to Madam Pomfrey to get multiple bones fixed," Fred continued.

"Yeah, alright, stop raining on my parade," James grumbled. "My point stands."

"There was a point to all that?" Lily asked. James poked her.

They kept up the friendly banter all the way back to Kings Cross, interspersed with games of exploding snap, and 'promenades' in the corridor with boyfriends or girlfriends. It was late afternoon by the time the Hogwarts Express pulled up on Platform nine-and-three-quarters. All along the train, students spilled out onto the platform, calling out Christmas greetings to friends, before hurrying off to find parents.

Mia spotted her parents, stood on the edge of the Weasley clan, ready to whisk their children off to Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, and the Weasley family Christmas gathering. She felt a sudden pang of longing to join them – she'd heard so much about the Christmas traditions. But she was being silly – she wouldn't want to spend Christmas without her parents.

Even if it would be nice to experience some of the stories she kept hearing about.

* * *

It was two days after Christmas when Mia saw Lily's head in her fire. Mia's house was the bottom two floors of an old Georgian townhouse, with all the original features, including fireplaces in every room. Mia's dad always worried about the cost of using them and keeping the maintained, but her mother was insistent, and so in the winter, there were always fires blazing in Mia's bedroom, her parents' bedroom, and the sitting room downstairs.

Which was where Lily's head came into it.

Mia was sitting in her room, trying to write a Transfiguration essay she really wished she hadn't left until the holidays when she heard a loud 'pop'. She looked around the room, unable to see the source of the noise until she heard Lily's voice say,

"Hey, idiot, down here."

Mia looked down and saw Lily's disembodied head floating in the fire.

"What?" she began, but Lily cut across her.

"Dad got your fireplace connected to the Floo network," she explained.

"So... where's the rest of your body?" Mia asked.

"In the kitchen at home," Lily told her. "Well, at Grimmauld Place."

"And is there any particular reason your head is floating in my fire?" Mia asked, somewhat bemusedly, as she sat down in front of the fire.

"I wanted to ask if you're free tomorrow," Lily said. "It's snow fight day, and we're one person short for the girls' team – Dom broke her collarbone this morning."

"Dom did what?" Mia asked.

"Broke her collarbone," Lily repeated matter-of-factly.

"How?" Mia asked. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah – worst luck," Lily said. "Without magic, she'd probably be out of the next Quidditch match, but Uncle Bill took her to St Mungo's, and they healed it all up, only her shoulders still a bit weak, and they said she's gotta rest tomorrow, so she's out of the snowball fight. Which is where you come in."

"Hang on – you haven't said _how_ she did it," Mia protested.

"Oh," Lily said. "Unfortunate side effect of one of the boys vs. girls games. I'll tell you about it tomorrow. So, can you come?"

"I'll just go and ask my parents," Mia said. "Wait there."

"You'd better be quick – my knees are killing me," Lily moaned.

When Mia returned to her room after having obtained permission to spend the following day with the Weasleys, she found the entirety of Lily sat on her bed.

"My knees were like dead, so I thought I'd come through," she explained. "So?"

"I can come," Mia affirmed. "What even is this snowball thing, though, anyway?"

"It's just a massive snowball fight," Lily told her. "We all go somewhere snowy – we take a portkey – and have a massive snowball fight, boys vs girls."

"What if there is nowhere snowy?" Mia asked.

"Once we went to France," Lily shrugged. "But Uncle Ron went and found a place in Scotland yesterday, so that's alright. If you come to ours about ten, and we'll go from there."

"How do I-" Mia began.

"Floo," Lily said, taking a pot out of her pocket and handing it to Mia. "You've done it before, right? Chuck a pinch of this in the fire, say 'Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place', and step into in. Like this – see you tomorrow."

Lily took a pinch of emerald green powder from the pot and threw it into the fire. She said, 'Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place', stepped into the fire, and was gone.

Mia was nervous as she prepared to leave the following morning. Although she was used to travelling by side-along apparition, today she was going to use one form of magical transportation she'd only used one before – floo – and another she'd never used - portkeys. When she was ready, Mia said goodbye to her parents and headed up to her room. After Lily had left, she'd put the pot of floo powder on the mantelpiece, and now Mia took a pinch of powder and threw it into the flames, which turned emerald green.

"Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place," Mia said loudly and clearly – she'd heard from Lily, Hugo and Louis about what could happen if you mispronounced your destination. She stepped nervously into the fire - she knew she wasn't going to get burnt, but that didn't stop her worrying. She began to spin round, slowly at first, but getting faster and faster. As she span, Mia caught glimpses of rooms – living rooms, bedrooms, shop rooms, and what looked suspiciously like the Leaky Cauldron, the gateway to magical London. Then she felt a shove, and fell, flat on her face on a cold stone floor.

"Nice of you to drop in," Mia heard James' voice say as half a dozen well-meaning hands hauled her to her feet.

"At least you came out at the right grate," Lily's dad, Harry, said consolingly. "I didn't, the first time I travelled by Floo."

"No, you wound up in Knockturn Alley," Hugo's dad, Ron, grinned.

"And anyway, Dad, Mia travelled by floo in the summer when we went to the England match," Lily put in.

"Alright, everyone, let's get cracking." This was George, Fred and Roxanne's dad, who owned Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. "Guys over here, girls over there."

The thirty or so of them split into its two rival factions, Lily cracking her knuckles at her brothers. Mia noticed Dom for the first time, her arm strapped up.

"I'm sorry about your collarbone," Mia said to her.

Dom shrugged her one good shoulder. "At least it means you get in on the fun of the snowball fight – but be warned, Mia, it's not just fun; everyone's deadly serious."

"Deadly," Victorie agreed. "I'll be annoyed if I'm out of it next year..."

"No you won't; you'll be over the moon," Teddy grinned.

"What are you doing over here? – you're not a girl," Lily protested.

"Just kissing my wife," Teddy grinned, kissing Vic whilst all her former bridesmaids made sick noises.

"Oh, grow up, you lot!" Vic said. "You're a bunch of children, all of you."

In the end, travelling by portkey turned out to be marginally less scary than travelling by Floo, because at least then you were all together, and weren't worried about getting lost all on your own.

After a gruelling morning's snowball fight (in which the girls were declared the marginal winners, which may or may not have been due to the fact that Dom had joined her grandparents on the judging panel), they built a bonfire and roasted kebabs and toasted marshmallows. After lunch, the adults sat around the bonfire keeping warm, whilst the teenagers, led by Charlie, the second eldest of the Weasley brothers, started smaller scale snowball fights of their own.

It was almost six by the time Mia got home, landing with a thud on her bedroom floor. She was tired, and ached all over, but she was happy too – she'd had a taste of a Weasley Christmas, but now she was back home with her parents.


	20. Chapter Twenty: Ministers for Magic

Chapter Twenty

Ministers for Magic

On the way back to school after Christmas, Lily, Mia, Hugo and Louis travelled with their little siblings, as well as Rachel and Ailie. Lily, Hugo and Louis were full of stories about the Weasley Christmas – and by the sounds of things, Dom breaking her collarbone was the tamest of them – and Matilda was telling anyone who'd listen how she'd nearly got frostbite watching a herd of live reindeer for so long.

Only Emma, sat in the corner looking out of the window, was quiet.

"How was your Christmas, Emma?" Mia asked.

Emma shrugged. "It was good."

"Did you enjoy being back with your family?"

Emma hesitated for a fraction of a second before she nodded. "Yeah, it was good."

"We had a lovely vegetarian curry for Christmas dinner," Matilda was saying.

"Curry?" Lily asked. "How can you eat curry for Christmas dinner?"

"With a knife and fork," Matilda said, with the air of trying to explain to a toddler that one plus one equals two. "Or a spoon, if you're my little cousin."

Lily rolled her eyes. "You're hilarious, you are."

"So my dad says," Matilda grinned.

When they reached the castle, most people were glad to hurry through dinner and head to bed. It had been a long day – Mia and her parents had left the house at 8:30 in order to catch the Hogwarts Express at 11am, but people who lived further away must've had an even earlier start.

Mia's first lesson the next morning was Potions, and so after breakfast she headed down to the dungeons with Lily, Hugo having gone on ahead with Rachel. When they reached the classroom, they joined Zoe at their usual table.

"Where's Cassie?" Mia asked.

Zoe shrugged. "Probably snogging Al somewhere," she said dejectedly.

"And what's wrong with you?" Lily demanded.

"I think Mac's gonna break up with me..." Zoe sighed. "He didn't write to me _once_ over Christmas."

"Maybe he was just too busy?" Mia suggested.

"Too busy to write to his girlfriend, yeah," Zoe huffed. "He's gonna break up with me."

"If you say so," Lily sighed.

Cassie eventually arrived, red and out of breath, just as the bell rang.

"Where've you been?" Lily demanded, as Professor Cooke shut the door and walked up to the front of the room to start the lesson. "Snogging my brother?"

Cassie went even redder, if that were possible, and Lily, Mia and Zoe all laughed.

* * *

After Potions, Mia headed up to Wizarding Social Studies with Cassie.

"I bet Lily's off to tell her brother off for almost making you late," Mia grinned, as they watched Lily march away in the opposite direction.

Cassie blushed again. "I guess we made each other late..." she said. "And, contrary to popular opinion, we weren't snogging, we were just talking – we haven't seen each other since the end of last term."

"Whatever you say..." Mia grinned.

They reached the classroom and took their usual seats.

"Hey, Mia, Cassie," Theo Nott grinned. "Good Christmas?"

"Yeah, pretty good," Mia nodded. "You?"

"Meh," Theo shrugged. "Parents had a massive bust up on Christmas Day, but then that's kind of standard around here. What about you, Cassie – you stayed here over Christmas, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Cassie nodded. "Too far to go home for Christmas."

"Why – where do you live?" Theo asked, but Cassie didn't have a chance to answer, as Professor Hawksworth began the lesson.

"Right, listen up, third years," he said, shutting the door with a casual flick of his band. "Today, we'll be starting the History of the Ministry. I know we've already touched on bits of it last term, but today we're going to start from the beginning, so who can tell me who the first Minister for Magic was, and when they took office?"

A room full of blank looks met this question. Mia knew there must've been a first ever Minister for Magic, but she didn't have a clue when that would've been.

Theo raised his hand. "I don't know the date, but would it've been just after the International Statute of Secrecy?" he asked. "Because before then, the Muggle government was also like in charge of Wizards too?"

"Exactly, Mr Nott," Professor Hawksworth said. "Take five points for Slytherin... on second thoughts, make it ten – good reasoning is more impressive than just blindly recalling names and dates.

"You're just biased because you're head of Slytherin!" Alice protested.

"I have to be with this class, Miss Longbottom," Professor Hawksworth grinned. "Six Gryffindors, and only two Slytherins and two Hufflepuffs. Anyway, can anyone give me a date? No? What about the date of the Statute of Secrecy?"

Ben Finch-Fletchley raised his hand. "1673?" he suggested.

"Almost," Professor Hawksworth said. "Can anyone give me a better offer?"

"Is it higher or lower?" Hugo grinned.

Professor Hawksworth rolled his eyes. "Do I really have to play 'higher or lower' with a bunch of third years just to get me the date of the International Statue of Secrecy? Higher."

Cassie raised her hand tentatively. "1692?" she asked.

"Precisely," Professor Hawksworth said. "Take five points for... Hufflepuff, Miss Andrews."  
"So, as Mr Nott and Miss Andrews have so rightly told us, following the establishment of the International Statute of Secrecy in 1692, Wizarding Britain needed a leader, more than the governance of before. Thus, in 1707, the first Minister for Magic, Ulick Gamp, was appointed."

"What kind of Wizarding government was there before then?" Frankie Longbottom asked.

"It took various forms," Professor Hawksworth told the class. "There was the Wizengamot, which still exists today. Gamp was the head of the Wizengamot before he was elected Minister for Magic. Then there was the Wizard's Council, which was slowly phased out, and replaced with the Ministry we know today. Now, how many Ministers there have been in the last 315 years since Ulick Gamp?"

Theo raised his hand slowly, alost lazily, Mia thought. "Thirty-five," he said.

"Precisely," Professor Hawksworth said. "Five points for Slytherin."

"How do you know that?" Ruby McLaggan demanded.

Theo grinned annoyingly at her. "My mum made me learn them when I was a kid. It's not something I can unlearn. There's Ulick Gamp, Damocles Rowle, Persus Parkinson-"

"Yeah, alright," Alice said, and Theo grinned again,

"You memorised 35 names, in order?" Ruby was incredulous.

Theo shruggled. "But the muggles have more Prime Whatsey-things than that, don't they, sir? And I bet some muggle kids memorise them."

"There have been sixty-seven muggle Prime Ministers since 1721," Professor Hawksworth nodded. "Seventy-five if you count the ones who were Prime Minister twice, twice, if you see what I mean."

Oscar Peakes raised his hand. "Why do they have so many, Professor?" he asked.

"I don't know, Mr Peakes," Professor Hawksworth said. "Your best bet would be to ask Professor Reuben. However, I do believe a muggle Prime Minister is obliged to hold an election more often than the seven years when the Minister for Magic is elected. However, to return to the earliest days of the Ministry..."

Professor Hawksworth spent the remainder of the lesson talking to them about the formation of the Ministry. As the bell rang, he announced that he would be offering fifty points to anyone who could list the thirty-five Ministers for Magic in next Monday's lesson.

"That's not fair!" Hugo protested. "Theo already knows them, so he'll get fifty points for Slytherin."

"All the reason for you Gryffindors to work hard and learn them, then, Mr Weasley," Professor Hawksworth grinned.

That evening, Hugo went to the library after dinner and copied out a list of all thirty five Ministers for Magic.

"You're not really going to learn those, are you?" Mia asked, as the gang congregated in the Inter-House Common Room.

"Maybe," Hugo shrugged. "I'm not gonna let _you_ get all the points, Theo." He glared at Theo, who, along with Ruby, was working on a Defence Against the Dark Arts project with Louis.

"I'm gonna get the points whatever," Theo shrugged. "Even if you do manage to learn 'em – which I highly doubt, since it took me three weeks to learn 'em-"

"Yeah, but you were a kid then," Hugo protested. "How old were you?"

"Nine," Theo told him.

"There you go, then – just a kid," Hugo said triumphantly.

"Why d'your sister and Malfoy insist on snogging in public?" Theo asked, changing the subject.

They all looked around to where Rose and Scorpius were entwined in an armchair.

"'bout time too," Hugo sighed. "Rose's been moping all holidays because they broke up the night before we came home for Christmas."

"Al, if you and Cassie want to snog, you'd better go do it in private," Lily told her brother, who was sat with Cassie on one of the numerous sofas the gang had dragged around the fire to accommodate them all.

"Alright, Lily, we don't need you telling us what to do," Al grinned, but he later excused himself to walk Cassie back to the Hufflepuff quarters in the basement at eight o'clock, a full half-hour before third-year curfew.


	21. Chapter Twenty-One: You Charmed The

Chapter Twenty-One

You Charmed the Heart Right Out of Me

As Mia headed down to breakfast the following morning, she was greeted with Mac and Zoe arguing in the Entrance Hall.

"I don't get what the big deal is," Mac was saying. "No, I didn't get around to writing to you, but I'm talking to you now – I don't even like writing."

"So it was too much effort to write to me, was it?" Zoe demanded. "You could have contacted me some other way – you could've floo called."

"Floo freaks my dad out," Mac told her. "My mum only connects our fireplace to the floo network on special occasions."

"Oh, and wishing your girlfriend a Merry Christmas wasn't special enough?" Zoe retorted.

"It's not that, it's... oh, you know what, Zoe? If you're gonna get all clingy, then maybe I don't want to do this anymore!"

"Yeah, that's right – you bail like you always do!" Zoe said. "All you want is someone who'll respond to your flirting – a quick snog – but as soon as it gets to the point that requires you to get emotionally involved, you bail. Well, you know what, you bail if you like – see if I care – I'm though with dating children!"

Zoe flounced off into the Great Hall to a round of applause from a handful of onlookers.

"Grow up, you lot," Mac scowled at the impromptu audience.

"Looks like it's you who needs to grow up, mate," Josh Young grinned, slapping Mac on the back.

* * *

That night in the Inter-House Common Room, Zoe positioned herself as far away from the gang as possible, amongst a bunch of first years which included her 'little sister'. Mac solemnly handed Louis a badge which read 'I dated Zoe Davies', before pinning an identical one to his own robes.

"I wish you wouldn't," Ailie sighed, as Louis, grinning, added the badge to a small collection which was forming on his robes (the others read 'Ravenclaw. Need I say more?', 'Proud to be a Weasley', 'The girls only like me because of my Veela hair' and 'I dated Dove Ackerly'.)

"What's the matter?" Louis asked her. "It's past tense – 'I dat _ed_ '."

"I just think it's creepy – you wearing it like... like a badge of honour."

"Well, it is a badge..." Louis grinned.

Ailie rolled her eyes. "I do sometimes wonder who the grown up one is in this relationship," she sighed.

Mac laughed. "Neither of you are grown-ups," he said. "Remind me how old you are, Ailie?"

"Twelve," Ailie scowled. "But I act a lot more grown up than Louis sometimes, don't I, Alexander?"

"Sometimes," her brother agreed.

"Mostly you're just an ickle baby," Louis grinned, tickling her.

"Go away," Ailie sighed. "I have a Transfiguration essay to write. Is it just me, or is Duncan even more evil than usual this term?"

"It's not just you," Lily said. "Yesterday he went around taking off points for bad Transfiguration instead of giving points for good work, and by the end of the lessons both Gryffindor _and_ Ravenclaw – which is his own house – had lost like 100 points each. _And_ he set us six pages to read, and an eighteen inch essay, all to be done by Friday."

"I think it's the post-Christmas grumps," Mia said. "I mean, Professor Duncan is like totally the Grinch or something."

"What's the Grinch?" Lily, Hugo, Louis and the Longbottom twins asked simultaneously.

"You don't know what the Grinch is?" Alexander asked incredulously.

"They grew up in totally Wizarding households, poor souls," Mac grinned. "I bet they've never heard of Cinderella, or Snow White, or Puss in Boots, or-"

"I have heard of Cinderella!" Hugo said indignantly. "It's a muggle disease – my dad said so."

Mia, Mac, Alexander, Ailie and Rachel all burst out laughing.

"Cinderella's not a disease," Rachel managed to say, clinging onto Hugo's shoulder to keep herself upright. "She's a character in a muggle fairy-tale – a children's story."

"Well it sounds like a disease to me," Frankie reasoned.

"Yeah, but Duncan sounds like a doughnut, but he's definitely not that," Mac retorted.

"So what _is_ the Grinch?" Lily demanded, once the laughter had died down.

Mia, Mac, Alexander, Ailie and Rachel cobbled together an explanation, which gave their all-wizard raised friends a vague idea of the story.

"Sounds about right," Lily nodded. "His new name can be Professor Grinch who stole Christmas – Grinch for short. Now, can someone lend me their _Intermediate Transfiguration_?"

"Have you still lost yours?" Mia asked, handing hers over – she'd done the reading last night and was now halfway through the essay.

"Yep," Lily said cheerfully. "I guess it'll probably turn up when we're packing to go home for the summer, and not a moment before."

The gang all spread out a bit, and got on with some work. Mia settled down to finish her Transfiguration essay, whilst Lily soon abandoned reading the passage from Mia's _Intermediate Transfiguration_ in favour of working on a Muggle Studies project with Alexander and Rachel. Louis was helping Ailie with her Potions homework, whilst Hugo sat staring at an empty roll of parchment, as if willing his essay to write itself.

"Hey, who's got my _Standard Book of Spells_?" Mia asked the room at large as she went to look something up and couldn't find her book.

"Me, sorry," Kieran, who was sitting a few tables away with Alexander, said, levitating the book over to Mia. "I borrowed it in Defence, this morning."

"Oh yeah," Mia remembered. "So what's happened to yours?"

"Alexander stole it," Kieran grinned.

"I did not!" Alexander said indignantly. "I borrowed it, and then I mislaid it. You'll have it back as soon as I find it."

Mia turned back to her essay, looking up what she needed in her _Standard Book of Spells, Grade Three_ , and then stowing it safely away in her bag. She'd been working for about twenty minutes when she became aware of Emma stood behind her.

"Mia..." Emma said tentatively.

"Mmm?" Mia replied, glancing up from her essay.

"Please would you maybe be able to help me with my homework?" Emma asked.

"Sure," Mia said, getting up. "Where are you?"

She followed her 'little sister' over to the other side of the Inter-House Common Room where Emma had set herself up at a little table by herself.

"The others were distracting me," Emma explained, as Mia glanced over her shoulder to where Matilda, JJ and Archie were sitting.

"Okay, what d'you need help with?" Mia asked, turning her back on the other first years and concentrating on her 'little sister'. She spent nearly ten minutes attempting to help Emma with her homework (it was History of Magic, so she really had no idea) by which point, all thoughts of Transfiguration had left her head. She went back to her table and began to pack away her stuff.

Lily was now curled up in a nearby armchair, leaning on Mia's _Intermediate Transfiguration_ and writing something.

"What're you writing?" Mia asked, sitting down on the sofa opposite her.

"Letter to Luci," Lily told her.

"Give her my love," Mia said. Luci Hamel was a Swiss girl who'd been at Hogwarts last year whilst her father worked in London. She's had a shaky start, getting off on the wrong foot with Lily, but by the end of the year she'd become a permanent part of the gang.

"Will do," Lily said. "Hey, you're not after your book back yet, are you? I haven't got anything else to lean on."

Mia shook her head. "When you're finished."

"Hey, Mia, is Hugo serious about learning all the Ministers?"

Mia looked up and saw Theo walking over. He sat down on the sofa as Mia replied,

"It seemed like it. Yesterday he went to the library and copied out a list."

"Hugo's never memorised anything in his life," Lily said absently, not looking up from her letter.

"What about learning incantations for spells?" Mia asked. "Surely those are memorised."

"Okay, he's never _intentionally_ memorised anything, like memorised it just for the purpose of reciting it," Lily modified.

"And you have?" Theo asked, mildly amused.

"I can do the States of America," Lily grinned. "When I was ten, James bet me a galleon I couldn't learn them in a weekend. I could: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Cali-"

"Yeah, alright, I believe you," Theo said hastily. "Hey, Hugo!" he called out. "How're those Ministers coming along?"

Hugo, bent over a table, didn't reply, and so Theo got up and strolled over to him. Mia followed – she didn't have anything better to do. When they reached Hugo's table, it was to discover him hunched over his list of Ministers, fingers in his ears, singing.

"You're singing the Ministers?" Theo asked, grinning.

Hugo took his fingers out of his ears and looked up. "So what if I am?" he asked defiantly.

"What's the tune?" Theo grinned.

Hugo's face went much the same colour as his hair as he mumbled, "You charmed the heart right out of me."

Theo hooted with laughter. "You're singing Celestina Warbeck?" he asked. "Hey everyone!" he called the the room at large. "Hugo Weasley's singing Celestina Warbeck! Maybe if you all ask him nicely he'll put on a concert for you. You could find some fellow fans and form a tribute act, eh, Hugo?"

"I know what you're trying to do, and it's not going to work," Hugo said through gritted teeth. "You're trying to embarrass me into stopping learning them, but it won't work – you'll see. I find it easier to learn stuff if I sing it, and my Grandma was playing Celestina Warbeck all Christmas – she's like her biggest fan or something."

"Not quite," Theo grinned. He waltzed away, singing, "You charmed the heart right out of me, my biggest fan is Hugo Weasley."

Mia was torn between wanting to join in Theo's teasing for Hugo's choice of what was evidently the 'granny music' of the Wizarding world, and encouraging Hugo so she could see the smug smile wiped right off Theo's face when Hugo got fifty points for Gryffindor next Monday.

In the end, she slapped Hugo on the back and said, "You show him, Hugo. But if you do start a tribute act, you can count me out."


	22. Chapter Twenty-Two: A Matter of Time

Chapter Twenty-Two

A Matter of Time

Thursday evening brought the first Quidditch practice of the term. James had originally scheduled one for Monday night, but had subsequently cancelled it because, if Fred were to believed, he was in the middle of a fight with Chlo.

After dinner, Lily and Mia headed down to the Quidditch pitch with Emma in tow – in the flying lesson earlier, James had suggested she tag along and watch.

"I don't know why, though..." Emma mused, as she walked through the dark grounds in between Lily and Mia.

"Because James reckons you're a good flier," Mia told her, remembering the conversation she and Lily had had with James at the Chaser tryouts back in September.

"Maybe he wants you to have a look and see which position you want to play," Lily suggested. "You've only ever seen two Quidditch games in your life, haven't you?"

Emma nodded.

"Well, then," Mia said. "You like flying, don't you."

"Yeah," Emma said shyly. "It just feels so... natural... like I've been doing it my whole life, even though I know I haven't."  
"And would you want to play Quidditch someday?" Mia asked.

"I think so," Emma nodded. "But I don't know what position."

"Then that's what today's for," Lily told her. "So you can get to know the positions better, and see which one you think you might want to play."  
They reached the Quidditch pitch, and Emma went to find a seat in the stands, which Lily and Mia went to join the rest of the team in the changing room.

"Just you two?" James asked as Lily and Mia joined him and Fred in the changing room. "Why is everyone so late tonight?"

"They're not; your watch is fast," Fred said monotonously, in a tone which suggested he was repeating himself.

"No it's not – Mia, what's the time?"

Mia checked her watch. "Five to," she said.

"See!" Fred said triumphantly. "I told you!"

"But... my watch is never wrong," James said, confused.

"Well it is today," Lily grinned. "I make it five to as well."

"Well you're both idiots," James grumbled.

"What's up with you, Mr Grumpy?" Lily demanded.

"He's still arguing with Chlo," Fred told her. "I swear they're turning into Rose and Scorp or something."

"Shut up, Fred," James sighed. "I think I have an idea of who's behind this..."

"Behind what?" Fred asked. "Your arguments? I don't think you can really blame that on anyone other than you and Chlo, can you?"

"No, my watch being fast," James said.

"What do you mean? – watches sometimes just run fast."  
But James didn't get a chance to reply, as the rest of the team – Roxanne, Mary and Samuel – arrived at that point. But throughout the practice, James was uncharacteristically short with everyone, snapping at mistakes and constantly pushing for faster passes and quicker reflexes, never satisfied with their best effort.

Eventually, Samuel accused him of being worse than Danielle, last year's captain, and Samuel's older sister.

"I thought Danielle was bad, but you're something else!" he yelled as the team landed on the pitch after an hour and a half's gruelling work. "At least Dan only blew up at shoddy performance, but you're not satisfied with anything, are you? Just because you're having problems with Chlo-"

"You leave my girlfriend out of this!" James snapped.

"I will if you do," Samuel retorted. "If you've got problems with Chlo, you take them up with her – don't take them out on us."

"Whatever," James huffed. He took a couple of deep breaths, calming himself down a little, and then called, "Hey, Emma, come down here."

Looking somewhat apprehensive – she couldn't have failed to notice James' black mood – Emma came down from the stands where she'd been sat all practice, kept warm by a charm Samuel had cast round her when he'd noticed her shivering ten minutes in.

"So, what d'you think?" James asked. "Think you'll grace the house team with your presence someday?"

"Maybe," Emma shrugged.

"What position do you play, Emma?" Samuel asked.

"I'm not sure..." Emma said. "I was thinking maybe Seeker – I'm quick... and good at dodging."

"Sweet," Samuel grinned. "D'you want a quick go with the Snitch, whilst we've got the balls out."

"Mmm..." Emma said tentatively.

"Go on – you can borrow my broom," Mia said, holding it out to the younger girl.

Samuel kicked off from the ground, and Emma, after a moment's hesitation, followed. She was tentative at first, but gained in confidence as she gained in height.

Fred whistled. "She _can_ fly," he said. "And you said she'd never flown before Hogwarts?"

James shook his head, and Mia added, "she didn't even know she was a witch until July."

The rest of the team watched as Samuel released the Snitch, and Emma shot after it.

"She's a bit wobbly..." Roxanne commented.

"Mmm," James nodded, watching critically. "Needs to work on her posture a bit."

But the next minute, Emma had caught the Snitch, and turned neatly, flying back towards Samuel. The rest of the team, watching below, applauded, and as Emma glanced down to look, she wobbled slightly, and had to be hauled back onto her broom by Samuel. Samuel released the Snitch twice more, and both times, Emma caught it easily.

"I'd say you'll make a pretty good Seeker someday," Fred grinned, as Emma landed back on the pitch alongside Samuel.

"Yeah, Emma, if you fancy coming down before the practice next week, we can get the Snitch out again – I'll give you a bit of training."

Emma looked terrified at the prospect, so Mia spoke for her,

"That sounds great, doesn't it, Emma? And you can borrow my broom as long as I'm not using it."

The team and Emma headed back up to the castle, James stalking ahead, suddenly grumpy again.

"What's up with him tonight?" Roxanne demanded. "Freddie?"

"Huh?" her brother asked.

"Why's James in such a grump tonight?" Roxanne repeated.

"Chlo," Fred replied succinctly.

"Figures..."

"Mia..." Emma said nervously. "It's past curfew... won't I get in trouble?"

"No – it's okay because you were at Quidditch practice," Mia explained. "You're allowed out after curfew for legitimate things like that – you're only really not supposed to be wandering the corridors after curfew."

"But I'm not on the team..." Emma reasoned.

"But you were at practice via special invitation from the team," Samuel explained. "Mia came to pretty much every single Quidditch practice when she was a first year, and never once got in trouble for it."

"Really?" Emma asked Mia.

"Really," Mia affirmed. "Just stick with us, and no one will even notice you."

Sure enough, the team, plus Emma but minus James, who'd stalked on ahead, proceeded up to Gryffindor tower without incident. Once Mary had given the password to the Fat Lady, the portrait hole swung open and they all clambered into the Common Room, to find James involved in a noisy argument with Josh Young.

"Here we go again," Fred sighed. "A galleon says James started it."  
James had Josh up against the wall, his wand at his throat. "Admit it," he growled. "I know you did it."

"Then perhaps you could enlighten me, as I have absolutely no idea what you're on about," Josh said calmly.

"Yeah, right," James snarled. "I know your game, and it's not going to work."

"Looks like it's working a dream from where I'm standing," Josh smirked, seemingly still oblivious to the fact that James' wand was held against his throat.

"There! You admitted it!" James said triumphantly, white sparks flying from the end of his wand and presumably stinging Josh, from the way the younger boy tried to pull away.

"No, really, enlighten me," Josh drawled. "I'd love to know what I've admitted to."  
James glared at Josh, and Josh glared back.

"This could go on all night," Samuel grinned.

"Someone pass the popcorn!" Matilda giggled from a nearby armchair. "This is better than reality TV!"

"Either accuse me of something, or let me go," Josh said calmly. "Or else I'll report you to Professor Longbottom for bullying."  
"Bullying?" James snorted.

"Yeah," Josh retorted. "What's this if it's not bullying?"

"What's sneaking into my room in the middle of the night, and winding my watch on, to make it fast so that I'll get angry with my team when I thought they were late for practice, if it's not bullying?" James demanded.

There was a momentary silence, and then Josh let out a snort of laughter. " _That's_ what you're accusing me of?"

"I'm not accusing you; I _know_ you did it," James spat.

"What, you really think I'm so sad that I would go to so much effort just to wind your watch on a few minutes?"

"You've done pettier things before," James retorted. "Intercepting MIs, for instance. And how did you know it was only a few minutes if you didn't do it?"

"Intelligent guess," Josh shrugged. "You have no proof, and until you do, you can damn well leave me alone."

Josh shot a silent spell at James, through the pocket of his robes where his wand was, which was still forceful enough to throw James off his feet. Josh turned and walked away, and from where he was lying on the floor, James shot another spell at Josh's retreating back. James' spell was also non-verbal, so Mia couldn't tell exactly what it was, but the way Josh came down and landed flat on his face, it looked like a particularly nasty trip jinx.

"Now _that_ was uncalled for," Fred said loudly, walking over to Josh and offering him a hand up.

"I don't need your help, Weasley," Josh spat, scrambling to his feet. He shot another spell at James, who deflected it, and replied with one of his own.

Fred cast a shield charm between them. "Enough!" he bellowed, loud enough even to attract the attention of the handful of people on the far side of the room who hadn't yet noticed what was going on. He turned to his cousin, "Come on. We're going for a walk."

James swore at him.

"We're going for a walk," Fred said, more firmly. "You need to cool off. Come on."

He gave James a shove towards the portrait hole, and James reluctantly allowed himself to be propelled out into the corridor.

"Well..." Josh said, as the Fat Lady swung shut behind James and Fred. "Looks like Potter's finally lost the plot."


	23. Chapter Twenty-Three: Boys!

Chapter Twenty-Three

Boys!

By Monday, it was recognised throughout Hogwarts that James Potter and Josh Young needed to be kept apart at all costs. It hadn't yet reached the staff, but in the corridors, students formed human walls to keep the two of them apart, and the 'no magic in corridors' rule was repeatedly flouted as multiple shield charms were cast whenever James and Josh were seen approaching each other.

The two of them had had another duel on Sunday night, resulting to them both having to go to the hospital wing, Josh with three broken fingers and huge bat bogies flapping all over his face, and James covered in pus filled boils, and a nose pouring with blood. Madam Pomfrey, being Madam Pomfrey, said nothing, which wasn't necessarily a good thing.

In Potions on Monday morning, Professor Cooke had to tell Hugo off for singing on three separate occasions. The class giggled each time – it was common knowledge by now that he was learning the Ministers for Magic by singing them to a Celestina Warbeck song.

After Potions, Mia headed up to Wizarding Social Studies with Hugo and Cassie.

"I'm gonna wipe that smirk right off Theo's face," Hugo grinned, as they passed through the Entrance Hall and upwards to the first floor.

"D'you know them all?" Mia asked.

"Uh-huh," Hugo nodded, starting to sing: "Ulick Gamp, Damocles Rowle, Peresus-"

"Yeah, alright, save it for Hawksworth," Mia said quickly.

When they reached the classroom, Theo, along with Ruby, was already there.

"Morning losers," he smirked.

"Morning bigger loser," Hugo grinned back. "You're going down!"

"In your dreams, Weasley," Theo grinned.

"I don't understand boys and their eternal competitiveness," Mia sighed, sitting down beside Ruby.

"I think they're both beyond caring about the points," Ruby replied. "They're just concerned about not losing face now."

"Well, I think it's silly," Mia said. "Hugo's got in trouble with two different teachers this week for not doing his homework because he was too busy learning all those Ministers."

"Good morning, third years," Professor Hawksworth said, striding into the classroom, his long robes billowing out behind him. "Let's begin with the homework. Anyone who can name me _any_ Ministers – even just our current one – can have five points for their house. So anyone who wants to have a go, please leave the room, and I'll call you in one by one, so that those going last don't have the advantage of hearing everyone else have a go."

As one, the class rose to leave the room. All of them knew at least the first Minister and the current one, and if they could waste lesson time and get themselves house points to boot, it was worth a go.

"Everybody?" Professor Hawksworth asked. "Okay – I'll call you in alphabetical order, so... Miss Andrews, you're first."

Mia went outside with the rest of the class, leaving Cassie behind to try her luck with the list of Ministers. As Professor Hawksworth flicked the door shut behind them, Mia looked around and calculated that she came third alphabetically, after Cassie and Liam Coote.

It was less than a minute before Professor Hawksworth opened the door and called, "Mr Coote."

Hugo was stood a little way down the corridor, fingers in his ears, singing under his breath. Theo, in contrast, was leaning against the wall by the door, smirking.

"Don't you need to practice?" Mia asked him.

"Does an owl need to practice hooting?" Theo asked in reply.

Mia was halfway through thinking up a witty response when the door opened again and Professor Hawksworth called, "Miss Dursley."

Mia entered the room.

"I can do the first one, and the last five," Mia grinned – Modern History of Magic was certainly good for something.

"That's what I did," Cassie grinned from her usual seat.

"Very well," Professor Hawksworth said. "Go ahead."

"Ulick Gamp was the first," Mia said. "And then the last five are Millicent Bagnold, Cornelius Fudge, Rufus Scrimgeour, Pius Thickneese, and Kingsley Shacklebolt."

"Well done, Miss Dursley," Professor Hawksworth said. "Take a seat and five points for Gryffindor." He opened the door with a flick of his wand. "Mr Finch-Fletchley."

Mia sat down next to Cassie to watch the rest of the class. One by one, Ben Finch-Fletchley, Alice, Frankie, and Ruby came in and recited the names of Ulick Gamp, and a handful of later Ministers for Magic. Ruby managed to remember the two following Gamp – Damocles Rowle and Perseus Parkinson – merely from hearing Theo and Hugo reciting them so often, and for this Professor Hawksworth awarded her ten points.

Then it was Theo's turn. He strolled into the classroom, hands in his pockets, and proceeded to recite the entire list of thirty-five Ministers for Magic, winking at Mia, Ruby and Cassie in between each one. As he wound up with, "Rufus Scrimgeour, Pius Thickneese, and our current esteemed leader, Mr Kingsley Shacklebolt," he nodded curtly at Professor Hawksworth and then bowed to the class.

Professor Hawksworth rolled his eyes. "Very well done, Mr Nott," he said. "Take fifty points for Slytherin, and then kindly sit down and stop pratting around."

Everybody laughed, and Professor Hawksworth called in Oscar Peakes, Liam Coote's 'other half'. He only managed, "Ulick Gamp, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and somewhere in between there was a dude called Fudge."

Finally, it was Hugo's turn, and he came and stood before the class, looking nervous.

"Whenever you're ready, Mr Weasley," Professor Hawksworth said.

Hugo took a deep breath and began, "Ulick Gamp, Damocles Rowle, Perseus Parkinson, Eldritch Diggory, Albert Boot, Basil Flack..."

He rattled through them with his eyes tightly shut, barely pausing until he reached Venusia Crickerly, when he faltered.

"He's not going to do it..." Theo muttered.

"Of course he is," Mia returned.

"Mr Weasley?" Professor Hawksworth asked. "Is that all you can do?"

Hugo shook his head furiously, his eyes still closed. "I've got this." He began to sing the list, from the beginning, at top speed and under his breath. The class started giggling, but Hugo was oblivious. He reached, "Dugald McPhail, Sprout-Hole Spavin, Venusia Crickerly-" and then carried on aloud, "-Archer Evermonde, Lorcan McLaird..."

After that, he finished the list without incident, and then opened his eyes and turned to Theo with a triumphant,

"There! So ha!, Theo Nott!"

"Yes, well done, Mr Weasley," Professor Hawksworth said. "Take a seat, and fifty points for Gryffindor. Now then, if you'd all take out quills and parchment, and prepare to take notes..."

* * *

As January dripped into February, the frosty atmosphere between James and Josh continued. Chlo also wasn't talking to James after his treatment of Josh, which meant he went around the castle in a constant grump. Emma seemed happier, as far as Mia could tell, which made her life easier, and meant she could concentrate more on her school work. The Gryffindors were still holding onto slim hopes of retaining the Quidditch cup. After Gryffidor's defeat by Hufflepuff, Slytherin had gone on to slaughter Ravenclaw before Christmas. Then, in the last week of January, Slytherin had narrowly beaten Hufflepuff, meaning Gryffindor could still retain the cup if they beat both Ravenclaw and Slytherin.

"Well, we ought to win the next match for sure, the way we've been practicing," Samuel said, as the team walked back up to the castle in the sleet one evening in February, after a gruelling practice session. "It's only Ravenclaw, after all. _And_ they've lost Toft."

"It'll be a piece of cake," Fred agreed. "Now Slytherin – there's one we have to worry about."

But he was drowned out by the outcry from the rest of the team.

"Fred! Let's get the Ravenclaw game over first!"

"No worrying about Slytherin until April at the earliest!"

"Shut up about Slytherin!"

"Alright, alright!" Fred held his hands up in mock surrender. "I won't mention the 's' word until after the Ravenclaw game."

"The 's' word?" Lily giggled.

Fred rolled his eyes. "Immature child," he uttered. "Yeah, the 's' word, yeah, you know: s-h-i...itherin."

"Shivering?" Mia grinned.

"Yeah. What I' doing right now," Fred said decicively. "C'mon guys, hurry up – it's freezing out here."

They all hurried up, and soon reached the relative warmth of the castle, and then the actual warmth of the Gryffindor Common Room. Lily and Mia walked over to join Hugo buy the fire, where he was sitting with Rose and Albus.

"What's up with you?" Lily asked Rose bluntly, taking in her cousin's red eyes and blotchy face in one swift glance.

"Scorp broke up with me," Rose sniffed.

"For the one hundred and fifty forth time," Al said, fairly unsympathetically.

"That sucks," Lily said cheerfully. "Hey Hugo, c'mon, we've gotta go do that thing."

"What thing?" Hugo asked.

"That very important thing," Lily said meaningfully, grabbing Hugo's arm and leading him away. Mia followed them.

"What very important thing?" Hugo demanded, once the three of them were seated on the other side of the room.

"Nothing," Lily admitted. "I just wanted to get us away from Miss Misery-Guts."

"Hey, that's my sister you're talking about," Hugo protested. "She's pretty upset."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Puh-lease – you and I both know that this is very convenient timing – breaking up just in time to make up on Valentines."

"I'm not sure they consciously plan this stuff..." Hugo said.

"I wouldn't put it past them..." Lily said darkly.


	24. Chapter Twenty-Four: Ailie's Wand

Chapter Twenty-Four

Ailie's Wand

The following afternoon, Friday, Lily and Mia walked back up to the castle for a late dinner after Care of Magical Creatures, worn out. Hagrid had introduced them to his herd of Hippogriffs, and they, along with the rest of the class, had spent the last forty minutes running backwards and forwards, bowing to the great winged horses.

"I think I preferred the flobberworms..." Lily sighed, as they collapsed into the seats Hugo had saved them opposite Emma, Matilda and JJ.

"Mmm..." Mia agreed. "At least the worst they could do was die if you overfed them."

"Guess what, guess what?" Matilda said.

"You're silly and I'm not?" Lily suggested. "Pass the potatoes, Mattie, unless you've got something really interesting to say."  
"I have, as it turns out," Matilda said, puffing up importantly.

"Well, pass the potatoes anyway," Lily said.

Matilda did as she was told, and then continued,

"Tell them what us three and Archie did all lunch, JJ."  
"I don't know what you've done today, but here's a suggestion for what you could do tomorrow," Hugo grinned. "Grammar."

Matilda poked out her tongue at him, and JJ said, "We wrote letters to Wizarding publishers and bookshops, asking them to plant trees."

Lily snorted. "You really think they'll listen to a bunch of eleven-year-olds?" she asked.

"I'm twelve now," Matilda said indignantly. "And so's Archie. And it's worth a try!"

"If you say so," Lily sighed. "I'm too tired to argue with you."

After dinner, Hugo went to meet Rachel in the library, and Lily and Mia headed up to the Inter-House Common Room, where they joined Mac, Alice, Andy, Frankie, Kieran, Alexander, Zoe and Cassie, and settled down to get on with some work.

Ten minutes later, Ailie Abercrombie stormed into the room, crashing through the door, Louis not far behind.

"Olivia Creyer, where are you?" Ailie yelled.

"Ailie, you haven't got any proof," Louis said, grabbing her arm. Ailie shook him off and stalked across the room towards a girl Mia recognised as one of Ailie's second year friends.

"Where is it?" Ailie demanded.

"What're you talking about?" Olivia asked, confused. "Where's what?"

"You know what," Ailie growled.

"Ailie-" Louis said, more insistently.

"My wand," Ailie said. "I left it in Transfiguration, and it wasn't there when I just went back to look. You were the last one down to dinner."

"I don't know where your wand is," Olivia said. "Seriously, Ailie – stop being weird."

"I'm not being weird!" Ailie insisted. "You stole my wand! Give it back!"

"Just because you're too chicken to go and ask Professor Duncan for your wand, doesn't mean you get to accuse me," Olivia said indignantly. "I did not steal your wand. I do not know where it is."

"C'mon, Ailie," Louis said, tugging at her arm again. "Let's go find Professor Grinch."  
Reluctantly, Ailie let Louis lead her away.

"I don't blame her, not wanting to go to Grinch and ask if he's seen her wand," Lily said as the door slammed shut behind Louis and Ailie. "He'll probably give her detention for losing it."

"Probably," Mac yawned. "What did she go and lose her wand for anyway? It's not exactly the easiest thing to lose, is it? Mine's always in my pocket... I think..." He rummaged around in his robes pocket, and eventually produced his wand, thus prompting everyone else to go on a frantic wand search to ensure they hadn't misplaced theirs.

Almost half an hour passed by the time Louis and Ailie returned.

"Any luck?" Alexander asked his sister.

"No," Ailie grumped. "Professor Grinch hasn't seen it. Which is proof Olivia stole it!"

"No it's not," Louis sighed. "Anybody in your class could've picked it up, and not got around to giving it back to you yet. Or anyone walking past could've pinched it. Or maybe you didn't even leave it in Trans."

"Where else did I leave it, then, oh wise one?" Ailie huffed, sinking into a sofa and stretching out her legs, as if daring Louis to try and sit next to her.

"I don't know – when did you first notice it was missing?"

"At dinner," Ailie said, with the air of trying to explain something to a small child. "You were sat next to me!"

"So... maybe it fell out of your bag and rolled under the table," Louis suggested. "Maybe you didn't leave it in Grinch's room after all. And if it fell out under the table, anyone could've picked it up... or it could still be there. Let's go and look in the Great Hall, and then find Flitwick and ask if anyone's handed it in – if I found a wand under the Ravenclaw table and couldn't immediately see who it belonged to, I'd probably hand it in to Flitwick. There's no need to go accusing Olivia – or anyone – of stealing it until we've exhausted all the possibilities."

"I know..." Ailie sighed. "I just... I don't like not having my wand – it makes me feel vulnerable."

"I know," Louis said, taking Ailie's hands and pulling her to her feet. "But that doesn't mean you need to make other people feel sucky too, 'kay?"

"'kay..." Ailie sighed.

"If you two are about to kiss, don't," Lily advised.

Louis kissed Ailie, very deliberately, and then turned and winked at his cousin.

"Idiot," Lily muttered.

* * *

On Saturday, Mia had had plans to go down to the Quidditch pitch with Samuel and Emma, and give Emma some Quidditch training, but when she woke up, it was to the sound of rain beating against the high windows of her dormitory, at the top of Gryffindor tower, so it looked like that plan was foiled.

Mia checked her watch. It was still early, and Lily, Alice, Frankie and Rachel were all still asleep. Mia got up and dressed silently, and then crept out of the still dormitory and down into the Common Room.

It turned out that Mia wasn't the only one awake this early – Emma, Matilda and JJ were all in the Gryffindor Common Room, embroiled in an argument.

"But I've got Quidditch training with Mia and Samuel Wood, and I've got loads of homework to do," Emma was saying.

"They won't want to go out in this," Matilda reasoned. "Mia-!" she suddenly spotted her "-you won't be doing Quidditch in this weather, will you."

"Probably not..." Mia admitted.

"There you go, then!" Matilda said triumphantly, turning back to Emma. "So you can!"

"But I've still got loads of homework to do..." Emma protested, her voice getting progressively quieter.

"Well, maybe if you don't want to help us, then maybe I don't want to be your friends anymore!" Matilda huffed. She turned to walk away, and was met with Mia glaring at her. "What?" Matilda demanded.

"Emma has homework, and suddenly you don't want to be her friend?" Mia demanded, her voice icy. "That says an awful lot about the kind of friend _you_ are. What exactly are you trying to bully Emma into doing?"

"I'm not bullying!" Matilda protested, affronted.

"That's what it looks like to me," Mia said steadily. "So?"

"We just want to send MIs to all the teachers to ask them to consider how much paper they waste in their lessons," Matilda said sulkily.

"We're passionate about it too," JJ said quickly.

"Yeah," Emma nodded.

'Passionate, or brainwashed?' Mia wondered, but she didn't say it. Instead, she said, "Matilda, you need to understand that not everyone believes in this as strongly as you do. And that's a good thing, because it would be boring if everyone was a clone of you." 'And terrifying,' she added in her head.

Matilda turned to Emma. "Sorry, Emma," she said. "Of course I'm still your friend."

"Why don't you all do your homework together, first," Mia suggested. "That way you can help each other, and finish quicker, and still have time to do whatever you want afterwards."  
"That's a great idea, Mia – thanks," Matilda said. She turned to the others. "C'mon guys, or we're gonna be late for Archie."

"Where are you guys going this time of the morning?" Mia asked as the three first years headed towards the portrait hole.

"Watch the sunrise," Matilda called back over her shoulder.

"What, in the weather?" Mia called back.

"The sun rises in all weathers, thus we shall observe it in all weathers," Matilda said solemnly.

Mia rolled her eyes. She didn't think she'd ever understand Matilda.

Mia had been curled up in an armchair writing a letter to Will for almost half an hour when Ailie came down from the dormitories.

"Hey Ailie, did you find your wand last night?" Mia asked, glancing up from her parchment.

"No," Ailie sighed. "It wasn't under the Ravenclaw table, and Professor Flitwick said no one had handed it in, so we went and asked all the other heads of house, but no one had seen to it. But I'm fairly sure I never picked it up after Transfiguration; we stopped doing practical work and started doing written stuff halfway through the lesson, and I remember I put my wand down on the desk... I must've forgotten to pick it up at the end of the lesson."

"That sucks," Mia said sympathetically – she couldn't imagine what it would be like to not have her wand. In the holidays it was different, but during term time, she carried her wand around with her religiously. She knew how it felt to momentarily misplace her wand – the fear, the panic. It felt silly to think about it now, but all Mia's magical power was embodied in that narrow strip of wood; without it she was nothing. Although when she was younger, before she'd come to Hogwarts, Mia had performed pieces of accidental magic, she knew that it took a very skilful witch or wizard to perform wandless magic after starting magical training.

"Way sucks," Ailie sighed.

"I hope you find it soon," Mia said.

"Me too..."


	25. Chapter Twenty-Five: Valentine's Day

Chapter Twenty-Five

Valentine's Day

As Lily had predicted, by Valentine's morning, Rose and Scorpius were back together, snogging in the Entrance Hall before breakfast – 'trust them,' Lily sighed. Lily was grumpy because no one had asked her to be their date the Big Sibling-Little Sibling Valentine's party that evening. Despite Mia's insistence that she, Lily, Emma and Matilda could just all go together in a group, Lily was still complaining. It didn't help that, as Lily and Mia were halfway through their breakfast, Matilda came bouncing over to gleefully report that JJ had asked her to be his date at the party tonight.

"I swear we're the only third years without dates," Lily grumbled as Matilda walked away.

"Ask a second year," Louis suggested – he and Ailie were sitting at the Gryffindor table this morning. "They don't get to go otherwise, so they're bound to say yes."

"I don't want to go with some random baby second year," Lily scowled. "I'm not _that_ desperate."

"Or a fourth year, then," Louis continued. "What about Mac – this kinda thing'd be right up his street."

"Maybe..." Lily shrugged.

"I don't get what your problem is," Louis said. "You don't even want a boyfriend, do you?"

"No..." Lily admitted. "It'd just be nice not to go to this party on my own."

"But you won't be going on your own," Ailie pointed out. "You'll be going with Mia and Emma."

"It's alright for you – you've got a boyfriend!" Lily huffed.

"Just ignore her, Ailie," Louis recommended. "She's just indulging in a spate of self-pitying grumps."

"Go away," Lily scowled. "I guess I'll go ask Mac, then."

"Ask me what?" Mac asked, from behind Lily – he'd been on his way to the Hufflepuff table.

"If you wanna come to the big sibling-little sibling party with me tonight," Lily said, unphased – you wouldn't have through she was asking someone out.

"Too late – I'm already going," Mac grinned lazily.

"With who?" Lily demanded.

"Vicky Baddock," Mac told her.

"But... but she's a Slytherin," Lily protested.

"Yeah, and...?" Mac said. "Theo and Ruby are Slytherins, and they hang out with the gang all the time now, don't they?"

"Yeah, but Vicky's friends with Ilonka, and Ilonka's an evil cow!" Lily said emphatically.

"I agree Ilonka's a cow," Mac said, "but Vicky's alright. Anyway, see ya later."

He walked away to find a seat at the Hufflepuff table.

"Back to square one," Lily sighed.

"What about Garrett?" Louis suggested, referring to his cousin on his mother's side, who, like Mac, was a Hufflepuff fourth year.

Lily rolled her eyes. "I think _not_ ," she said.

"Why not?" Louis demanded.

"Because he's on the Hufflepuff team, and they beat us," Lily scowled. " _And_ he nearly knocked me off my broom with a Bludger."

"Which is kinda his job," Louis said. "I give up. Coming for a walk, Ailie?"

"Give me and minute," Ailie said, hastily shovelling down the rest of her breakfast before getting to her feet.

"Come for a snog, more like," Lily scowled, once the two of them had gone.

Mia rolled her eyes. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

Mia spent most of the day with Lily in the library, which was about the only place she thought they were fairly sure to avoid kissing couples, due to the librarian Madam Pince's hatred of them. Mia still couldn't find her _Standard Book of Spells_ , and Lily's _Intermediate Transfiguration_ had been lost since before Christmas, but between them they managed, and by lunch they were both caught up on all their homework.

The big sibling-little sibling Valentine's party started at six, and was being held in the Inter-House Common Room, much to the annoyance of some of the older students.

"We didn't have any of this back in our day, Freddie," James sighed at lunch. "Firework parties, Valentine's parties... when we were these kids' age, we just went to lessons, did our homework, and went to bed."

"And then snuck out of Gryffindor tower for some night time wandering..." Fred grinned.

"With a little help from our friends, Messers Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs," Chris added.

"Yeah, when do I get my hands on this map?" Lily demanded.

"What map?" Mia asked.

"The Maraunders' Map," James said importantly, fetching a seemingly blank piece of parchment, which he spread out on the table.

"Let me do it! Let me do it!" Lily said.

"Alright," James nodded.

Lily drew her wand and tapped the piece of parchment. "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good," she said gleefully.

As she spoke, lines began to appear on the parchment, accompanied by tiny, moving dots.

"It's a map of Hogwarts," James explained, at the sight of Mia's confused face. "It shows every room, every corridor, every secret passage, and where everyone in the castle is right now. My granddad – and a bunch of other people – made it when they were at school."

"Wow..." Mia said, scanning the map for names she recognised. Louis and Ailie were in a deserted corridor on the third floor. Professor McGonnagal was in her office. The Ravenclaw Quidditch team were having a practice out on the pitch.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Lily said. "So James, when do I get my hands on it?"

"Al next, then you," James grinned. "Mischief managed." He tapped the map with his wand and it wiped clean.

"Not fair!" Lily moaned. "By the time we're sixth years, we'll probably be too grown-up to wander around the castle at night and make proper use of it."

"That's your problem, not mine," James shrugged. He got to his feet, Fred and Chris following.

"See ya, suckers," Fred grinned. "Enjoy your party."

* * *

At quarter to six, Lily, Mia, Hugo, Rachel, Emma, Matilda and JJ headed down to the Inter-House Common Room from Gryffindor tower. Lily was marginally less grumpy now at the prospect of food, but she still insisted on her Mia and Emma walking ahead of the two couples, so she didn't have to 'watch them being all cute'.

Whoever had decorated the Inter-House Common Room had really gone to town. The whole room was decked in red, pink, white and gold – streamers hung from the ceiling, every available wall was adorned with hearts, and cherubs were positioned sporadically around the room, dropping showers of confetti. A bunch of (dateless) first year boys were stood in the doorway in front of them, making sick noises.

"Grow up, you guys," Matilda sighed, pushing past them, JJ on her arm.

"That told you," Hugo grinned at the first year boys, as he and Rachel also entered the room.

"Right, let's get this over with," Lily sighed, and she, Mia and Emma also entered the Inter-House Common Room.

"Cheer up Lily –at least you're not dateless to the Yule Ball," Mac said, breezing into the room with Vicky Baddock on his arm. "Now that would be embarrassing."

Lily scowled at him, and Mac laughed and walked away.

Mia looked around the room. They appeared to be almost the last ones there, as the room was full –with all the first and third years, as well as various second, fourth, and even a handful of fifth years – of whom Al was one – who were there as the first and third years dates.

"Almost a full house, I'd say," Professor Longbottom, who was standing nearby, said to no one in particular. "No dates, girls?" he turned to Lily, Mia and Emma.

"Humph," Lily said, scowling.

"It's a sore spot," Mia explained, with a grin.

"Never mind," Professor Longbottom said consolingly. "I didn't have my first girlfriend until I was seventeen... not unless you count the time when I went to the Yule Ball with your mother, Lily."

"You went to the Yule Ball with my mum?" Lily asked incredulously, snapping out of her funk.

"Yep," Professor nodded. "Although I rather feel she only said yes because she felt sorry for me... and she was only a third year, and wouldn't've been able to go otherwise."

Lily giggled. "Thanks, Uncle Neville. Let's go get some food, guys."

Lily leading the way, the three of them wended their way through the dancing couples to the table where food had been set out. They all helped themselves to food and then found seats at one of the small tables which were dotted around towards one end of the room. They'd not long sat down when Archie came over to ask Emma to dance.

"I'm not sure I want to..." Emma mumbled, going red.

Archie rolled his eyes. "I'm asking you because _I_ want to dance and I don't want to look like a nutter dancing by myself," Archie told her bluntly. "Please, Em?"

"Go on, Emma," Lily said, giving her a small shove. "At least one of us should get to dance tonight."

Grudgingly, Emma allowed Archie to pull her to her feet. "I can't dance..." she faltered.

"I'll teach you," Archie told her.

Lily and Mia watched as Archie propelled Emma around the dance floor, with more enthusiasm than skill.

Lily giggled. "I have a feeling Archie's enjoying himself a lot more than Emma is," she grinned.

"Look at Matilda and JJ," Mia said. The two of them were careering around the dance floor, not at all in time with the music, almost knocking several people flying with their enthusiasm.

Ten minutes later, Lily was asked to dance by a fourth year Ravenclaw who's date had loudly broken up with him at a neighbouring table. At this, Lily brightened up considerably.

"D'you mind, Mia?" she asked, already letting the Ravenclaw boy lead her I the direction of the dance floor.

"No – go ahead," Mia told her, wondering vaguely what Lily would do if she said she did mind.

Mia sat alone, watching the couples dancing. Almost everyone was paired off at the moment, she reflected, although a few 'couples' had only been created for tonight.

"Hey, Mia."

Mia looked up to see Theo sitting down opposite her.

"Hi, Theo – who are you here with?" Mia asked.

"Just Zac – my little brother," Theo explained. "But he's found himself a girl, so..."

"So you're at a loose end," Mia supplied.

"Precisely," Theo said, stretching out in his chair and walking a sickle along his knuckles. "So, what about you – what've you done with your entourage?"

"Archie – Louis' little brother – asked Emma to dance- there they are-" Mia pointed to where Emma and Archie were still dancing – what looked like an attempt at a waltz this time. "And Lily got asked to dance by a fourth year... I think he's name's Lyndon."

"I hate dancing," Theo confessed. "I wouldn't've come if it wasn't compulsory."

"I'm quite happy sitting here watching," Mia said, "although there is a Charms essay with my name on it..."

"D'you want to sneak out?" Theo asked, grinning conspiratorially. "We've been here-" he checked his watch "-an hour now – I'd say we've done our bit."

Mia fleetingly considered the prospect, but then, spotting Emma, still dancing with Archie but looking like she'd rather be anywhere other than there, she shook her head. "I think I'd better go rescue my little sister," she said getting to her feet.

"Hey, Mia," Theo called after her.

"Yeah?"

"You gonna finish this?" he asked, gesturing to the half-eaten piece of chocolate cake Mia had left on the table.

"Go ahead," Mia laughed.

* * *

By the next morning, Rose and Scorp had broken up again. Lily sighed, 'predictable'; Hugo hugged his sister; and Al, grinning, marked another tally on his scrap of parchment.

At Monday night's Quidditch practice, James was in a far better mood than usual, as he and Chlo had made up over Valentine's, and were consequently talking (and snogging) again. Since James was in a better mood, everyone else was in a better mood too, since they weren't always being yelled at for making mistakes.

James was a pretty good captain when he wasn't grumpy, Mia thought. He was capable of concentrating on his own game, but also paying enough attention to the rest of the team so that at the debrief in the changing room afterwards, he was able to give everybody at least one pointer on how they could up their game, as well as a few general tips for the whole team.

Over the course of the next few days, Rose and Scorp broke up and got back together twice more, making it three times in a week, which Al claimed was a record, although Mia didn't know how he could tell, since his scrap of parchment only kept track of the number of breakups, not their frequency.


	26. Chapter Twenty-Six: More Quidditch

Chapter Twenty-Six

More Quidditch

The first weekend in March was the Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw Quidditch match. The day dawned cold but bright, last of the snow just melting on the ground. At breakfast, the Gryffindor team were quietly confident; Ravenclaw didn't have a particularly good reputation as Quidditch players, and they'd lost their star player, Seeker Matt Toft, who'd left last summer. Louis' sister Dominique was a Ravenclaw Beater, and quite a good player, but the rest of the team just weren't up to the same standard as the other houses.

"Good luck, guys!" Matilda squealed, walking down the table to where the Gryffindor team was, Emma and JJ following. "You're gonna win – you have to," she said confidently.

"Why do we _have_ to win?" Lily asked, mildly amused by her 'little sister's' enthusiasm.

"Because us lot haven't seen you guys win yet... and you're about to lose your reputation as the best team in the school," Matilda grinned before running off to the other end of the table.

"Cheeky brat," James grinned, helping himself to some more bacon. "Seriously, though, guys, we do have to win – we don't want anyone else to get their hands on our cup."

"It's not-" Roxanne began, but James cut across her.

"Yes. Yes it is."

Before more of the school had arrived at breakfast, James decided it was time for the team to head down to the Quidditch pitch to get ready. As they walked, the frosty grass crunching beneath their feet, James handed out some last minute pointers.

"Roxy and Mary, keep our path to the goal clear, and also watch out for that hit-a-Bludger-right-at-Mia technique they've got going on. Oh, and keep an eye on Dom as well – that goes for everyone, actually. She's been training like mad this summer.

"Lily, watch me and Fred, and stick to the formations we've taught you."

"I will," Lily nodded.

"Mia, stop goals. Sam, catch the Snitch," James wound up abruptly, as they entered the changing room.

"What about me, what about me?" Fred fake-whined, tapping his cousin incessantly on the shoulder. "You haven't said anything to meeeee!"

"Score goals, Fred," James sighed. "And quit poking me, you little git."

"I'm only four months younger than you," Fred pouted. " _And_ I'm taller than you – I resent being called 'little'."

The team pulled on their Quidditch robes and shouldered their brooms. Mia was nervous, albeit not quite as nervous as she had been before the Hufflepuff game; Ravenclaw weren't as good a team as Hufflepuff. The Gryffindor team walked out onto the pitch, to a roar from the crowd, and commentary from Mac: "Aaaand the Gryffindors! Potter, Weasley, Potter, Weasley, Cattermole, Dursley aaand WOOD! And let me just point out," he continued, "that almost half of the players on the pitch today are part of the extended Weasley clan. They're taking over the school! They're gonna murder us all in our beds! They're-"

"Enough hysteria, Mr Walter," Professor Longbottom cut across him.

"Right you are, Professor," Mac said cheerily. "I was just trying to add some... intrigue... people like conspiracy theories, ya know... but if it's not what you want..."

"It's not," Professor Longbottom said firmly.

"Then we will resume your usual Quidditch commentary service," Mac sighed.

On Madam Hooch's signal, James and the Ravenclaw captain, the seventh year Keeper, stepped forward to shake hands. Then the fourteen players mounted their brooms, and, on Madam Hooch's whistle, kicked off hard from the ground and soared into the air.

"So, it's Gryffindor in possession – James Potter to be precise – I hear there's mutiny in the Gryffindor ranks, and the Gryffindor captain is going to be in trouble if he's team don't win today," Mac said. "So, he passes to Weasley, to other Potter, back to Weasley, to other Potter, back to Weasley, to other other Potter – James, that is..."

Mia watched as James, Fred and Lily flew towards the Ravenclaw end, in a well-rehearsed opening formation, setting Lily up to score a goal. James passed to Lily, who dodged a Bludger, fumbled, but managed to pass to Fred. Fred passed to James, who, dodging round a Ravenclaw player, passed on almost immediately to Lily, who neatly placed the Quaffle through Ravenclaw's left hand hoop.

"GRYFFINDOR SCORE!" Mac yelled into the magical megaphone. "The Ravenclaw captain is beaten by the Gryffindor captain's baby sister, and Gryffindor lead, 10 points to 0."

Lily yelled something over at Mac which Mia couldn't hear, but it made Mac chuckle.

"Feisty," he grinned. "Must be the red hair... I heard her mother-"

"Mac," Professor Longbotttom said warningly.

"Oh yeah, you went to the Yule Ball with Lily's mother, didn't you, Professor?" Mac said.

"The game, Mr Walter," Professor Longbottom said, raising his eyebrows.

"That's a minor detail," Mac said, waving his hand dismissively. "Everyone really comes here to hear me, don't ya guys?" But he was shouted down by the crowd as Gryffindor scored again – Fred this time. "Alright, alright!" Mac said hastily. "Gryffindor's Fred Weasley scores, extending his team's lead to 20 points to 0. And it's now Ravenclaw in possession – pretty much the first touch they've got all game. And it's Boot, she passes to Senior, to Goldstein, back to – oooh! Intercepted by boy Potter, he passes to girl Potter – how'd'ya like my way of distinguishing between the Potters, everyone?" he asked the crowd, who, by and large, ignored him.

"Very nice, Mac," Professor Longbottom said quickly. "Now the game, if you please."

"Sure thing – Gryff... ooooh, nice save! Gryffindor's third attempt on goal is saved by Hufflepuff Captain David Smith, and the score remains 20 points to 0."

The way the game was panning out, Mia wondered if she'd ever have to do anything. Ravenclaw seemed incapable of getting possession of the Quaffle for long enough to get anywhere near Mia, and Roxanne and Mary seemed to be keeping the Bludgers at bay so far. As for Samuel, and Dove's sister, Di, they were circling high above, both focussed on one thing – finding the Snitch.

"So, it's now _Ravenclaw_ in possession of that elusive Quaffle, which so far has appeared to be _glued_ to the Gryffindor player's fingers... do I smell another conspiracy...?"

"No," Professor Longbottom said firmly.

"Perhaps," Mac continued, oblivious. "Perhaps the Quaffle has been tampered with..."

"The Quaffle has not been tampered with," Professor Longbottom sighed. "Madam Hooch checks the balls before each game."

Mac sighed. "Some people just have no imagination."

Mia tried to block Mac out, as the three Ravenclaw Chasers – Boot, Goldstein and Senior – flew towards her. Krystelle Goldstein passed the Quaffle to Jimmy Senior, who dodged round James and passed it back. Krystelle, seeing that she was surrounded by Gryffindor players, and hearing the dull thud of wood on metal as Mary sent a Bludger at her, shot wildly, and Mia was easily able to catch the Quaffle and pass it back to Fred, who was waiting for it.

"Nice save!" Mac yelled into his magical megaphone. "Gryffindor still lead, 20 points to 0."

In the next ten minutes, James, Fred and Lily scored a goal apiece, and Mia had no need to do anything more strenuous than watch.

"And it's Ravenclaw in possession – Boot, Senior, and it's Ravenclaw's Jimmy Senior heading for gaol!"

Mia steeled herself for Ravenclaw's second attempt on goal, this one looking a lot more thought-out than Krystelle's panic shot earlier. Senior had a clear path to the goal; his team mates were behind him, and the Gryffindor front three were still heading down the pitch. Senior feinted left, then right, then left again. Mia held her ground, waiting.

Mia heard a rush of air, and looked up to see a Bludger hurtling towards her. She dived to avoid it... and Senior scored.

"RAVENCLAW SCORE!" Mac yelled. "A goal from Ravenclaw's Jimmy Senior begins to close the gap. Gryffindor still lead, 50 points to 10."

James called for a time out, and Mia flew down to join the rest of the team on the ground.

" _That's_ what I'm talking about," James said bitterly, once Samuel, the last of them, had joined the huddle on the ground in the middle of the Gryffindor end. "We've gotta focus on getting 150 points ahead ASAP, because if that Ackerley girl catches the Snitch before you do, Sam..."

Samuel nodded gravely. "We lose. I know."

"And someone else gets our cup," James added. "So, Mary, I want you to defend Mia."

"What, the whole time?" Mary asked.

"Ther whole time," James nodded. "Gives it a go, and then if it looks like it's not working, I'll call another time out and we can change things."

Madam Hooch walked over to them. "Ready to resume play?" she asked.

James glanced around at the rest of the team who all shrugged or nodded. "We're ready," James affirmed.

On Madam Hooch's whistle, Mia kicked off from the ground again, and soared up to playing height, Mary following. Mia settled back into her position in front of the goal hoops, and saw Mary take up a position above her and slightly to her left, where she was out of the way, but still close enough to be able to intervene if necessary.

"So, after that strategic Gryffindor huddle, play resumes," Mac commentated. "It is that aforementioned team in possession – Fred Weasley to be precise. He passes to boy Potter, girl Potter, Weasley, girl Potter, boy Potter, girl Poter... she scores! Gryffindor still lead, 60 points to 10."

Mia grinned as Lily yelled something unintelligible up at Mac again. But this time Mac had barely listened to her; he was concentrating on something else.

"And it looks like the seekers have spotted the Snitch... oooh, alliteration... assonance... whatever. They're neck and neck, now Ackerley's ahead... now Wood... now they're level again..."

The crowd roared, cheering for their teams. Mia watched Samuel and Di diving towards a gold glint on the ground.

"Come on, Samuel!" Mia yelled, along with the crowd. Spurred on by the crowd, Samuel put on a burst of speed, his hand outstretched towards the Snitch.

"And it looks like Wood might have done it..." Mac said. "He's reaching out, and... yes! He's caught the Snitch! GRYFFINDOR WIN! Samuel Wood catches the Snitch, ensuring an overwhelming victory for his team. Final score: 210 points to 10!"

Mia joined the rest of the team in flying directly at Samuel and landing on top of him.

"Party in the common room!" James yelled.

It felt like they'd already won the cup. But as Mia headed up to the Common Room, amidst the rest of the team and a crowd of supporters, she thought soberly that there was still a long way to go.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the long gap between updates. I came to the end of my chapters that were already uploaded and just needed publish pressing, and then RL got in the way. I've got the next few chapters uploaded now, so there should be semi-regular updates for a little while.


	27. Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Boyfriends, Brothers and Breakups

The party in the Common Room continued into the early hours of the morning. Most of Josh Young's small group of dissenters had been driven back into the fold, and only a handful of the most loyal remained, sat with Josh in a corner, pointedly not taking part in the celebrations.

"He'll be over here before long, telling me exactly what I've done wrong, even though we won," James predicted, glancing over at Josh a couple of hours into the party. "I seriously do not get what his problem is."

"It's just you," Fred grinned lazily, stretching out in an armchair. "He'll never be truly happy unless he's having a go at you. I expect he'll be bereft next year..."

A girl with electric blue hair, who Mia recognised as Ruthie Blue, a seventh year prefect, walked over.

"Hey, Fred, you were amazing out there," she said, squashing into the armchair beside Fred and kissing him.

"That took bloody forever," James grumbled, watching with a mild disinterest as his cousin and the Gryffindor prefect snogged. "C'mon, guys, let's leave them to it."

En masse, the team, minus Fred, got up and headed for another part of the Common Room. As James led the way, pushing through the crowded Common Room, he nearly walked into Chlo.

"Hi..." he said tentatively.

"Hi..." Chlo echoed.

Although James and Chlo were technically still together, they'd barely spoken since Christmas, avoiding each other in the Common Room, and sitting at the opposite ends of the Gryffindor table at mealtimes.

"We should talk..." James said.

"We should..." Chlo agreed.

But before they had a chance, Josh Young was in their midst.

"Oh great," Samuel sighed.

"Well, well, well..." Josh said. "Looks like Gryffindor's star-player captain is losing his touch..." Josh said.

"What are you talking about, Josh?" Chlo asked. "They won, remember? Or didn't you bother to show up?"

"Yes, but our esteemed Captain," Josh sneered, "only scored one goal. And a fairly flukish goal at that, if you ask me."

"No one did," Samuel told him.

"Well, that just shows you know far less about Quidditch than you make out," James said calmly.

"Yeah!" Lily put in. "Any fool could see that James set up all those goals for me and Fred. It doesn't matter who scores the goals – only that they get scored."

That seemed to have floored Josh somewhat. He stood there, scowling at the team.

"Bye bye," James said pointedly. "I, and any _normal_ person, would call that a pretty good win – 210-10."

"Yeah, and that's another thing!" Josh said. "If I was playing, I wouldn't've let in that goal of Senior's."

"Oh yeah, that's right – you're perfect and you never let a goal in," James sneered. "That explains why you became Keeper and not Mia... oh wait..."

"Dursley only became Keeper because she's related to you," Josh scowled.

James laughed. "Does Danielle Wood really strike you as the kind of person who'd let someone onto the team on anything other than pure merit?" he asked.

"No, but you and your cousin do," Josh spat, stalking off to rejoin his friends.

"Idiot," James muttered. He took Chlo's hand. "C'mon. Let's talk."

Over the next few weeks, life at Hogwarts started to settle down again somewhat after the excitement of the Quidditch match, and topics of conversation around the castle diversified to topics other than merely Quidditch. There was talk of Hogsmede weekends, exams, and the Easter holidays, which were just over three weeks away. But all the third years could talk about was the field trip, which was to take place the week before they broke up for Easter.

"I'm mostly looking forward to going to muggle London," Zoe said in the Inter-House Common Room one evening. "Imagine seeing real, live muggles!"

Alexander rolled his eyes. "I'm sure you've seen muggles before," he said. "And it's not like they're a different species or anything – just like wizards without the magic."

"Yeah," Rachel put in, "lots of us have muggle parents and I can reassure you they're nothing out of the ordinary."

"Well fine, don't share my enthusiasm, then," Zoe huffed.

"I'm looking forward to the Mazi Zoo," Kieran said. "Imagine all the animals that are too dangerous to show us in class... my sister says they've got a chimera there."

"Well your sister's an idiot," Alexander told him. "They wouldn't be allowed to keep a chimera in the middle of London."

"I don't see why not," Ailie retorted. "The Mazi Zoo has the best security anywhere in Britain, except for Gringotts... and they used to have a dragon!"

"Ailie, how old are you?" Alexander demanded.

"Twelve."

"And how old am I?"

"Thirteen," Ailie scowled.

"Therefore, I know more than you," Alexander concluded.

"Well... well my boyfriend's fourteen!" Ailie retorted. "And you don't even have a girlfriend. So there!"

Alexander snorted. "Does ickle Ailie need her boyfriend to back her up?"

"Shut up, Alexander," Louis put in, from where he was sitting writing a Charms essay.

Alexander grinned. "I rest my case." He interlocked his fingers behind his head and stretched out in his chair.

"I don't need Louis to fight my battles for me!" Ailie said indignantly. She drew her wand and shot a stinging hex at her brother.

"Ow!" Alexander yelped. "Cut it out, Ailie."

"Hey, Ailie, did you find your wand, then?" Lily asked.

"No," Ailie scowled. "I had to write home for a new one."

"And our parents weren't pleased," Alexander put in, bewitching his pencil case to fly repeatedly at his sister's head.

"I was convinced it was going to turn up as soon as my new wand arrived," Ailie said, bewitching Alexander's pencil case to fly across the room and hide in a corner.

"I still don't know how a wand can just disappear..." Mia mused.

"Me either," Ailie said. "I'm still convinced someone stole it..."

"But why would anyone want to steal someone else's wand?" Louis reasoned. "Everyone has their own."

"And," Hugo put in, "another wizard's wand will never perform as well for you."

The group was gradually becoming aware of an argument between Rose and Scorp on the other side of the Inter-House Common Room.

"What's that all about?" Lily asked Al, jabbing her thumb over at Rose and Scorp.

"Scorp was helping another girl with her homework," Al said boredly. "Rose accused him of cheating. Scorp got defensive. I'm staying out of it."

"A typical Rose-Scorp argument, then," Hugo said.

"Except it's been two days now, and they're still at it," Al said.

"Hey, Mia, can I borrow your Standard Book of Spells?" Louis asked.

Mia shook her head. "It's still missing."

Louis sighed. "Okay then... Alexander, can I borrow yours?"

"Mine's lost too."

"Kieran?"

"Ditto."

Louis looked around at the gang. "Does anyone actually have their Standard Book of Spells?" he asked.

Most people nodded their assent, but Rachel, like Mia, Alexander and Kieran, had lost hers.

"Where's yours, anyway" Lily demanded of Louis.

Louis shrugged. "Probably the same place as my History book – eaten by the void monster under my bed."

"I swear we've never lost this many textbooks in one year..." Mia mused.

"Maybe someone stole them, like my wand!" Ailie suggested.

"No one stole your wand," Louis sighed. "And if someone stealing your wand is a stupid idea, stealing books is even stupider. I mean if I was going to steal any book in the world, it wouldn't be a textbook!"

"Personally, I think it's just you kids being clumsy," Al yawned from the sofa he was sharing with Cassie. "I bet you'll find them all when you're packing to go home for the summer."

"Probably," Louis conceded. "Oh, there they go again," he added, as Rose and Scorp started screaming at each other again.

Rose and Scorpius' break up lasted almost a week, culminating in an explosive argument in Herbology, which Al described to the gang in the Inter-House Common Room that evening, whilst Rose and Scorp were in detention.

"Professor Longbottom had a right go at them," Al said.

"Which you sound pretty pleased about," Hugo grinned.

"It's about time someone told them what idiots they are," Al shrugged. "It's our OWL year, and all week, whenever I'm trying to study or concentrate in lessons, there they are, arguing, or wanting me to be a messenger between them. They need to either make up, or leave each other the hell alone."

"And thus Albus the great hath spoken," Mac grinned.

"Hey guys, has anyone seen my wand?" Everyone looked up to see Mary Cattermole stood near them. "I was sat around here before dinner – I think it might have fallen out of my bag."

Everyone had a look around on the floor and under the chairs and tables near where they sat, but turned up nothing.

Mary sighed. "Well, if you see a wand lying around, it's probably mine." She walked off.

"Maybe whoever stole my wand stole hers as well," Ailie suggested.

"No one stole your wand," half a dozen people sighed.

At breakfast the next morning, it was clear Rose and Scorp had made up ("hallelujah," intoned Al). Lily and Mia sat opposite Emma, Matilda and JJ, whilst Hugo and Louis sat with their girlfriends.

"Lily..." Matilda began.

"Matilda..." Lily returned with a small sigh.

"If you were Headmistress at Hogwarts, what changes would you make?" Matilda asked.

"I don't know, Matilda, if you were Headmistress, what changes would you make?" Lily responded.

"I wasn't asking about me, I was asking you," Matilda said, looking mildly confused.

"But you only asked me so you could follow up with your ideas," Lily said.

"You know me too well," Matilda grinned. "Okay, so, can I tell you, then?"

"Even if I say no, you're gonna do it anyway, so go ahead," Lily sighed.

"Okay, so, first I'd make sure all the energy used in Hogwarts comes from sustainable sources like replacing trees and stuff, and finding magical way to harness solar and wind power... and then I'd introduce more animals – magical and muggle ones – to the grounds, and have Care of Magical Creatures from 1st year."

"Bravo, Matilda," Lily sighed. "Go change the world."

"Hey, Matilda," JJ grinned. "Maybe you could have a ritual sacrifice of the 1st year who scores lowest in their exams, so everyone can see Thestrals."

They all turned and stared at him.

"JJ, that is just disturbing," Mia said eventually.

"That's me," JJ shrugged.


	28. Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Field Trip

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The Field Trip

After breakfast on the last Tuesday of term, the third years stayed behind in the Great Hall when everyone else went off to lessons. A handful of teachers – those who taught the six third year options subjects – stayed behind too, as well as some sixth years.

Professor Hawksworth, the only Head of House present, called for silence. "When I call out your name, please go and stand with your subject teacher," he said. "Ancient Runes: Alexander Abercrombie, Cassie Andrews, Vicky Baddock, Mia Dursley, Ben Finch-Fletchley..."

As Professor Hawksworth continued calling names – first the rest of her Ancient Runes class, and then those who usually had Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures and Divination at the same time – Mia went to stand with elderly Professor Babbling, who taught Ancient Runes.

Once everyone had been sorted into their groups, Professor Hawksworth spoke again. "I'm sure I don't need to remind you that whilst we are in London, you are representing Hogwarts to the wider wizarding community. As such, anyone exhibiting behaviour which is not in line with the exemplary standards we expect from Hogwarts students will be sent back to school immediately and miss the rest of the trip. It will be up to Heads of House to decide on additional punishments, but I can assure you that any Slytherins who have to be sent back to school will be scrubbing out bedpans for the rest of the week."

"Right, everyone gather round," Professor Babbling commanded the class, holding up a silver platter, like the ones which had been piled high with bacon on the house tables just a few minutes ago. "Everyone hold onto the portkey – we'll be departing in a few minutes."

"Portkey?" Mia sighed. "But the best part of school trips was always the coach trips..."

Alexander grinned at Mia across the platter. Then he looked around. "Are we really the only ones who went to muggle primary school?"

"Looks like it," Mia shrugged, accidently letting go of the platter momentarily, and then grabbing on again quickly, in case she was left behind.

Professor Babbling began counting down: "Three... two... one."

On 'one', Mia felt the familiar jerk behind her navel – she'd travelled by portkey over Christmas. Suddenly, they were all spinning through nothingness, and all Mia could make out were the faces of her fellow students, gathered around the portkey. Then they landed, with a knee-jarring thud, and Mia blinked and looked around.

They were standing towards ore end of Diagon Alley, the huge white marble building which housed the headquarters of Gringotts Wizarding Bank looming behind them. Around them, witches and wizards going about their daily business largely ignored the group of Hogwarts students who had just arrived in their midst.

"Right, everyone," Professor Babbling said, stowing the portkey away in her handbag, which didn't look nearly big enough to accommodate something of that size. "No wandering off please, and no touching anything unless you've been given express permission by myself or a member of Gringotts staff. Follow me."

The class followed Professor Babbling up the marble steps and through the front doors. Professor Babbling's sixth year helper, who Mia thought was called Kiera, brought up the rear. Once they were all inside, Professor Babbling gathered the class to one side.

"This morning we are going to have a talk by some Gringotts curse breakers," she told them.

"Bet it's my dad," Louis muttered.

"Then," continued Professor Babbling, who was slightly deaf, and hadn't heard Louis, "they will provide some puzzles and activities. Ah – here they are."

Mia looked up to see a man and a young woman walking towards them. She quickly recognised the man as Louis' dad, Bill Weasley.

"Hi, Dad," Louis sighed.

"What, not pleased to see me?" Bill grinned.

"I can listen to you talk about Egyptian Mummies' curses anytime," Louis sighed. "I had hoped it'd be someone _interesting_."

"I'm interesting," Bill fake-pouted. "Anyway..." he turned away from Louis and towards the rest of the class. "Welcome to Gringotts. My name's Bill, and this is Flo, and we'll be your guides today. If you'd like to follow us."

The class followed Bill and Flo through the main atrium, but instead of heading down towards the vaults, Bill led them up a marble spiral staircase. They went up two flights of stairs, along a corridor, and into a long room which was filled by a large oak table.

"Take a seat," Bill said, waving his hand over the table. He and Flo sat at the head of the table, and Professor Babbling and Kiera at the foot. The class spread themselves out down the two long sides of the table. Mia found herself between Cassie and Louis, who'd deliberately sat himself as far away from his dad as possible.

Bill and Flo each spoke for about twenty minutes about their work as curse breakers, and Flo told them about her first trip abroad to work in the pyramids of Egypt – she'd only left school three years ago. Then they asked the class if they had any questions.

"Do you really need Runes to be a curse breaker?" Alexander asked. "Isn't everything in the Egyptian tombs in hieroglyphics anyway?"

"Not all of them," Flo explained. "Some Egyptian Wizards would intersperse hieroglyphics with Runes to make their curses harder to break. When I was Egypt, I needed a good knowledge of both."

Alexander sighed. "Curse breaking sound interesting, but Runes... isn't."

"Dad, tell them that mummy story," Louis said.

Bill laughed. "You do realise I made that up?" he asked.

"What?!" Louis exploded. "That was my favourite bedtime story as a kid, and now you're telling me it was all made up?"

"I thought you knew," Bill laughed. "It was believable enough when you were six, but now..."

"So... you never fought an escaped mummy in an Egyptian tomb...?" Louis asked tentatively.

Everyone laughed. "Unfortunately not," Bill said.

"So... you never warded it off with just an old rune book and a wedge of mouldy cheese...?" Louis sounded incredibly disappointed, and was starting to go slightly pink with embarrassment as everyone laughed at him.

"I didn't know you were so gullible, mate," Theo grinned at Louis across the table. Louis made a rude hand gesture at him.

"Sorry, son, Bill grinned. "I could still tell the story..." he suggested.

"Tell us, tell us, tell us!" Alexander started chanting.

"If you dare tell them, I'll... I'll... I'll eat your birthday present!" Louis told his dad.

"And, on that note, I think it's time for your Runes challenge," Flo said decisively. "If you could get into two teams – each side of the table will do – and then I'll hand out the Runes."

Mia, Louis and Cassie were joined in their group by Vicky Baddock, a Slytherin girl who was one of Ilonka's 'sheep'. Flo handed each group a bound scroll of parchment.

"In these scrolls are some runes which you need to translate. This will then give you clues which will lead you to a shop in Diagon Alley, and a password to give the shop owner. They will then give you a prize. If you can locate your prize and bring it back here by ten to eleven, you may keep the prize."

"And word of caution," Bill said. "Each team's Runes, and therefore their destinations, are different. So there's no point trying to copy each other."

Flo checked her watch. "You have just under an hour. Ready... steady... GO!"

Cassie's fingers fumbled as she unrolled the scroll.

"Hurry up!" Vicky snapped. "The others have got theirs open already!"

"I doesn't matter what the others are doing," Louis told her shortly. "It's not a race – we just have to be back here within the hour. Let's get cracking."

The four of them poured over the Runes. But they weren't Runes like Mia had ever seen. The recognisable Rune figures were interspersed with pictorial figures.

"Dad, are these hieroglyphics?" Louis demanded. Bill just shrugged and smiled at him. "But we don't know hieroglyphics!"

"I don't think they're real hieroglyphics," Mia reasoned. "Just pictures – look, that one's a cat."

"Why don't we write out the runes without the hieroglyphics in?" Louis suggested.

"Okay," Cassie nodded, copying out the runes, minus the hieroglyphics onto a separate piece of parchment. Whilst she did that, the others studied the hieroglyphics, finally declaring the mall to be some variation of cats, owls, mice and frogs.

"Right, runes!" Louis said, once Cassie had finished copying.

"I think the first one's school'," Cassie offered shyly.

"Yeah, or 'education' or 'teaching' – the rune means something like that," Mia agreed, writing the word down beneath the list of animals on her sheet of parchment.

"This one looks like... words... writing...write...written," Louis mused. Mia wrote that down too.

"And this one's dress...robe...dress robe? Dress robes!" Vicky said. "It's Madam Malkins!"

"Hang on," Louis said, "that doesn't fit with the other clues we have so far-"

"You can wear dress robes at school," Vicky pouted. "Come _on_ – you want to win, don't you?"

"To win, we need to get the answer right," Louis said firmly. "Stop being-"

"I think we should translate the rest of the runes," Cassie said.

"I agree," Mia said quickly, wanting to avoid an argument between Louis and Vicky. "What's this one?"

They all poured over the fourth rune. Across the table, Theo and Alexander were arguing about the correct translation of one of their runes. They didn't seem to be quite as far along as Mia's group.

"I've never seen that Rune before," Louis said eventually, after the four of them had been staring at the rune for a full minute.

"Let's try the last one," Mia said. Louis, Cassie and Vicky all spoke at the same time.

"Next to," Louis said.

"Beside," Cassie said.

"Nearby," Vicky said.

Mia wrote down all three variants. "Okay, so we've got 'school', or something similar; 'writing', or something similar; 'dress robes'; and 'next to'/'beside'/'nearby'."

"And the pictures," Cassie reminded her.

"And this rune we don't know," Louis said. "It looks a bit like the rune for 'need', but it's not... what word's like need?"

"'Feed'?" Vicky suggested.

Louis rolled his eyes. "I meant that they mean the same thing, not that they sound the same."

"Well you didn't say that," Vicky retorted. "Just because you're in Ravenclaw, you think you're better than the rest of us!"

Louis snorted. "No I don't," he scoffed.

"Let's not argue," Cassie said quickly. "It's too different to be anything like 'needed' or 'needing', isn't it?"

"Mmm..." Louis nodded. "No, it's gotta be a different word... what other word means you need things?"

"Necessary?" Mia suggested.

"Could be," Louis nodded.

Mia wrote it down.

"I still think it's Madam Malkins," Vicky insisted. "Dress robes, and you wear robes to school."

"What about 'necessary'?" Louis asked.

"Robes are necessary," Vicky shrugged.

"And 'next to'/'beside'/'nearby'?" Mia asked.

"Madam Malkins is like two shops down from here," Vicky said. "C'mon!" She got to her feet.

"What about 'writing', though?" Cassie asked.

"That's the password!" Vicky said. "Come _on_!"

Mia, Louis and Cassie looked at each other.

"It's worth a try," Mia shrugged. "We can think on the way."

"Alright," Louis conceded.

The four of them gathered up their sheets of parchment and ran out of the room.


	29. ChapterTwenty-Nine:Marvin the Mad Muggle

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Marvin the Mad Muggle

Vicky set the pace, tearing down the corridor and starting on the spiral staircase.

"Hey, slow down," Louis called after her. "We've got plenty of time, but you falling down the stairs and breaking your neck really would slow us down..."

"Not to mention adding an extra field trip to St Mungo's," Mia grinned. Reluctantly, Vicky slowed down, and the four of them headed down the stairs, through the main banking hall and out into the weak spring sunshine at a jog.

Vicky was the first to reach the prosperous wizardwear shop, where Hogwarts students had bought their school robes for generations. She pushed open the door, and the others followed. Madam Malkin was pottering around in the front of the shop, tidying displays.

Boldly, Vicky went up to her. "Writing," she said.

Madam Malkin looked confused. "Excuse me?"

"Writing...?" Vicky repeated, more tentatively. "Write? Writing? Written? Wrote? Words?"

Madam Malkin shook her head. "Sorry, love – I don't know what you're talking about," she said. "And aren't you all supposed to be in school? Or have the holidays started already?"

"Never mind," Vicky sighed.

"We're sorry for wasting your time," Cassie added, and the four of them left the shop, and piled onto a bench just outside. As they sat down, the other group ran past.

"Na nan a nan a, we're gonna beat ya!" Alexander jeered.

Louis sighed. "She didn't have a clue what we were on about."

"Mmm," Mia agreed. "If we'd just translated the rune slightly wrong, she might've prompted us, or at least let on that she knew why we were there. We must've got the wrong shop."

The four of them poured over the sheet of parchment again.

"I don't know how it wasn't right," Vicky grumbled. "All the clues pointed to it..."

"What about the hieroglyphics?" Cassie asked. "All the animals."

"Of course!" Louis hit himself on the forehead with the palm of his hand. "The hieroglyphics – they must be the key!"

They all thought hard. Eventually, "I've got it!" Cassie said. "I think..." she added hesitantly.

"Go on," Mia nodded.

"It's Flourish and Blotts," Cassie told them. "Written – books are. And our textbooks are _necessary_ for _school_. 'Dress robes' is the password, and Flourish and Blots is _next to_ the magical menagerie – the hieroglyphics are of pets."

"You're a genius, Cassie!" Louis yelled. "Quick, let's go – we've only got ten minutes, and Flourish and Blotts is right at the other end!"

The four of them ran the length of Diagon Alley at top speed, past the Magical Menagerie and into Flourish and Blotts.

"Dress robes!" they all panted at the owner, who smiled and handed them a paper bag from behind the counter.

"What's in it?" Vicky asked excitedly, as Cassie thanked the owner.

"Nevermind that now," Louis said. "We've got to run – if we don't get back on time it doesn't matter what this is cuz we won't get to keep it."

"But I wanted to see if it was worth running for," Vicky sighed.

No one paid her the slightest bit of attention as they headed back out of the door at a run, so all she could do was follow on behind. The four of them ran full pelt the length of Diagon Alley. Louis reached Gringotts first, and wrenched open the door, holding it open just long enough for Mia to catch it, before running through the banking hall, dodging around goblins and customers. Mia followed him, with Cassie and Vicky following on behind.

"We're not gonna make it," Vicky panted, checking her watch as they reached the foot of the spiral staircase.

"We will if you hurry up," Louis replied, taking the stairs two at a time. The four of them reached the top of the stairs, sprinted down the corridor, and burst through the door of the meeting room. The other team – Theo, Alice, Alexander and Ben – were sat comfortably on their side of the table, with an air of having been there quite some time.

"Did we make it?" Louis gasped.

Flo checked her watch. "Only just," she smiled. "Go ahead."

Vicky reached into the bag Louis held.

"A comic?" she said in disgust, as she pulled out a comic entitled 'The Adventures of Marvin the Mad Muggle'. "I ran all that way for a _comic_?"

"No way!" Louis said, grabbing his copy. "I love Marvin – I had a whole load of these when I was a kid."

"What is it?" Mia asked, taking the last two comics from the bag and handing one to Cassie.

"They're comics about this Muggle, Marvin, and all the mad stuff he gets up to," Louis explained with a grin, as Mia flicked through her comic.

"Has the writer ever even met a Muggle?" Mia asked eventually, looking at a very shaky explanation of the function of a post-box.

"Probably no," Louis grinned. "I used to have about a hundred of these – Merlin's beard! yours has the post-box story? – yeah, I had like a hundred of 'em, but Dom blew most of them up the summer before she started Howarts."

"Well you can have mine," Vicky sighed, handing it to Louis. "I don't care much for comics."

"Did she mean to blow them up?" Theo asked, grinning.

"She claims not," Louis shrugged. "But I had just nicked her broom, so... Anyway, what did you guys get?"

"Skiving snackboxes," Alexander smirked. "So, Professor, if we're not at the next Runes lesson, you'll know why."

They all laughed.

"Right," Professor Babbling said, "it's time to go. Make sure you've got everything you came with, and don't forget to thank Flo and Bill on the way out."  
Professor Babbling led the way out of the meeting room.

"Where are we going now, Professor?" Ben asked.

"Downstairs," Professor Babbling told him. "There's a hall which had been set aside for us to use today when changing groups." She led the class down to the first floor, and into a large empty hall, about the same size as the Inter-House Common Room. "The first Portkey should be arriving in about five minutes. Whilst we're waiting, please stay out of the circle marked out over there – that's where the Portkeys will come in."

Louis immediately sat down in a corner to read his new comics. The rest of the class milled around, until there was a flash of colour and sound, and Hagrid, Samuel Wood and the Care of Magical Creatures class were in their midst.

"How was the zoo?" Mia asked Hugo, as he walked over to her.

"Amazing!" Hugo said. "There are soooo many cool animals that we've only just heard about in lessons, and-"

But he was interrupted by another portkey arriving, closely followed by another group arriving through the door. Within ten minutes, the entire third year was reassembled.

"Right, quiet please," Professor Hawksworth called. "We haven't got much time to switch over into the next set of groups, so I' only going to read out the first two names for each class. If you are unable to identify your group from the first few names, then come and ask me afterwards. So. Ancient Runes: Dove Ackery, Emily Bletchley. Arithmancy: Tristan Bole, Andy Cattermole. Muggle Studies: Alexander Abercrombie, Vicky Baddock. Wizarding Social Studies: Cassie Andrews, Liam Coote."

Mia and Hugo headed over to join Professor Hawksworth. Louis' older sister, Dominique, of Quiddtich team and comic destructing fame, was Professor Hawksworth's sixth year helper.

"Hey, Dom," Hugo said.

"Hey," Dom replied. "Hi, Mia."

"Hi," Mia said. "Oh, if I were you, I'd steer clear of Louis for a couple of days – he's just been reminded of how you blew up his comic collection."  
Dom grinned. "It was an accident, though... but it did serve him right for nicking my broom..."

"Right, everyone gather around the Portkey," Professor Hawksworth said briskly. He was holding a silver platter. The class gathered around obediently, Mia squashed between Hugo and Theo, both of whom had shot up in recent weeks, and now towered over Mia, although she'd been never been particularly tall.

"Everyone holding on?" Professor Hawksworth asked. "Three... two... one."

Mia thought portkeys were quite amazing when you stopped to think about them. One minute you were in one place, and the next somewhere else. Now, they landed in the middle of a cool atrium, bathed in golden light. The Ministry for Magic. Mia took it all in. She knew a couple of her classmates – Hugo included – who had Ministry workers for parents had been here before, but for most of the class, muggle-born and wizard-born alike, it was their first visit to the Ministry for Magic.

"Before we make a start," Professor Hawksworth said, "can I just reiterate my earlier comments about being on your best behaviour. The Minister has given up time out of his busy schedule to conduct a personal tour for you, and it would be extraordinarily impolite and ungrateful to behave in any way other than the exemplary standard of behaviour we have come to expect from Hogwarts students. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Professor Hawksworth," they all chanted back at him.

"Good," Professor Hawksworth said. "Ah, here comes the Minister now. Good morning, Minister."

"Good morning, Professor Hawksworth," the Minister said, shaking Professor Hawksworth's hand.

Mia's first impression of the Minister for Magic was that he was steady. Despite Professor Hawksworth's continuous references to Kingsley Shacklebolt's busy schedule, he didn't seem at all hurried, but yet he had a commanding presence. Mia could understand why he had been made Minister for Magic in the aftermath of the Second War.

Now, he turned to Mia and her fellow students. "Welcome to the Ministry," he said in his deep, unhurried voice. "If you'd all like to follow me to get your wands weighed and your visitor badges issued."

"What did he mean 'wands weighed'?" Mia asked Hugo as they followed the Minister through the atrium. "Why does it matter how much my wand weighs?"

"It's not quite that sort of weighing," Hugo explained. "They just check your wand isn't like stolen or anything... well, actually, I don't know why they do it, but all visitors have to have their wands weighed."

The group reached a desk where a sleepy looking wizard sat. "Merlin, there's hundreds of you!" he said.

"They're all here on a Hogwarts school trip, Eric," the Minister Told him. "If you could weigh their wands and issue visitor's badges."

"Of course, Minister," the wizard, Eric, said. "Wand, please." He held out his hand for Professor Hawksworth's wand.

Professor Hawksworth handed his wand over, and everyone watched as Eric placed it on a set of bronze scales, which began emitting strange wails and puffs of smoke.

"Name?" Eric asked.

"Percival Hawksworth," Professor Hawksworth said. Theo snorted, and Professor Hawksworth whipped round. "Did you say something, Mr Nott?" he asked.

"No, sir," Theo said. But when Professor Hawksworth had turned around again, Theo mouthed 'Percival!?' at Mia, Cassie and Ruby, who all giggled.

Eric's scales stopped puffing and wailing, and instead ejected a scrap of parchment. "Everything appears to be in order," Eric said, checking the scrap of parchment and then handing back Professor Hawksworth's wand, and also giving him a small silver badge.

One by one, the class handed Eric their wands and told him their names. When it was Mia's turn, she saw that her badge read 'Mia Dursley. Hogwarts visit.'

Once everyone had their badges, Kingsley Shacklebolt lead them to a set of gold grills at the end of the atrium. As they got closer, Mia realised that they were the doors to a lift. They waited for the second lift, since the first was already full, and then all piled inside.


	30. Chapter Thirty: The Minstry of Magic

Chapter Thirty

The Ministry of Magic

The doors to the lift slid shut, and they began to move downwards.

"Excuse me, Minister... where are we going first?" Theo asked, boldly voicing what everyone had been thinking.

The Minister pointed upwards and raised his eyebrows, as if to say 'wait a minute'. Sure enough, as the lift slowed to a stop, a female voice said,

"Level Nine. Department of Mysteries."

The class stepped out of the lift and into a dark corridor with black-tiled walls and lit only by torches in brackets.

"I've heard about this place..." Ruby breathed – there was something about the Department of Mysteries which compelled everyone to whisper.

"Do we get to go in there?" Theo asked, jabbing his thumb in the direction of the single black door at the end of the long corridor.

"I'm afraid not," the Minister said, leading them toward it nevertheless. "The work of the Department of Mysteries is highly classified. They study time, celestial bodies, love, death, and the very nature of life itself – magic far deeper than the mere wand waving of the rest of us. However, there have been security breaches over the years..."

"By my parents," Hugo grinned in a undertone.

"And our dad," Alice giggled.

"But," Kingsley continued. "I'm afraid I can't even allow you beyond the first door. So, instead, we'll go down here."

He turned sharply and started down a flight of stone steps.

"This is Level Ten, and houses the courtrooms, but the lift doesn't go down this far."

"Why not?" Liam Coote asked.

"I actually have no idea," the Minister confessed. "I am sure there is a sufficient reason, however."

When they reached the foot of the stairs, the class followed the Minister for Magic along another corridor, this one with roughly-hewn stone walls. They passed half a dozen closed wooden doors, before Kingsley opened one and ushered them inside.

"This is Courtroom Ten – the largest we have," he said, as Mia and her classmates took in the room. Wooden benches rose up on all four sides, all looking down to the centre, where there was a high-backed chair surrounded by chains. It gave Mia the creeps.

"What kind of trials need a room this big?" Frankie asked.

"These days, not many," the Minister told her. "Only trials which involve the full Wizengamot take place in here, which there aren't many of those these days. But after the war, all the Death Eater trials were held in here."

Cassie shuddered. "This place weirds me out," she told Mia in a whisper.

"Me too," Mia said.

Looking around, they weren't the only ones. Having been given permission to explore, Hugo had climbed up the stone benches and was now looking down on the courtroom from above, and Alice, Frankie and Ruby were examining the chained chair, but Theo, looking slightly pale, walked over to Mia and Cassie.

"This place is freaky," he shuddered, and the girls nodded their agreement. "C'mon," Theo said.

Mia and Cassie followed him over to where Professor Hawksworth stood.

"Professor, please may we go and wait in the corridor whilst everyone else explores?"

Professor Hawksworth considered for a minute, opening and then shutting his mouth as if he'd been going to say something and then thought better of it. "Alright," he said eventually. "But stay just outside the door – don't go wandering off."

They all agreed they would stay put and then left the room, Mia shutting the heavy wooden door behind them. Theo started pacing, walking halfway to the door of the next courtroom and then back again.

"My grandfather was a Death Eater," he said eventually. "He's in Azkaban. He was probably tried in there." He jabbed his thumb in the direction of the courtroom.

There was silence for a full minute, and then Theo said,

"I wouldn't hold it against you two – or any of the gang – if you didn't want to be friends with me anymore."

"Why wouldn't we want to be your friends?" Mia asked.

"Because Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs made the right choices during the war, and Slytherins... didn't," Theo said. "My grandfather in particular."

"The war was years and years ago," Mia told him. "Long before any of us were born. And you're not your grandfather."

"I've got his stupid name," Theo grumbled. " _And_ my dad. When I have a son, I will _not_ be saddling him with 'Theodore'."

"There's nothing wrong with 'Theodore'..." Cassie said.

"Not the name in itself..." Theo agreed. "But it's everything that comes with it... the legacy." He paused momentarily and looked at Mia and Cassie. "How come you're not freaking out on me?" he asked.

"I think I already knew about your granddad," Mia shrugged. "When I heard the name 'Theodore Nott' in Modern History, I figured he must be some relation to you."

Theo started to say something, but the courtroom door behind them opened, so he stopped. The rest of the class filed out into the corridor, followed by Professor Hawksworth and the Minister.

"What are you guys doing out here?" Hugo asked, joining up with Mia, Cassie and Theo, as they headed back along the corridor in the direction of the stairs.

"Getting some air – it's creepy in there," Mia told him.

"You're a poet," Hugo grinned.

"And you didn't even know it," Theo added.

Mia rolled her eyes at them.

The class proceeded up the stairs and along the Department of Mysteries corridor to the lift.

"Where are we going next?" Frankie asked.

"The Department of Magical Games and Sports," the Minister told them as they all crowded into the lift.

"Quidditch!" Frankie said enthusiastically.

"Yes, but not just Quidditch," Professor Hawksworth said. "What else will we find in that Department?"

"Um..." Frankie said.

"Someone help her out."

"Gobstones," Theo sighed boredly, as the golden grills slid open and then closed again on 'Level Eight: the Atrium.'

"Very good, Mr Nott – five points to Slytherin – it would've been ten if you hadn't laughed at my name earlier." The whole class laughed, until Professor Hawksworth cut them off by asking, "anything else?"

But before anyone could answer, the lift stopped, the grills slid open, and the female voice said,

"Level Seven: Department of Magical Games and Sports. Home to the British and Irish Quidditch League Headquarters, Official Gobstones Club, and the Ludicrous Patents Office."  
The class stepped out into a corridor which couldn't have been more different from the Department of Mysteries corridor. The walls were covered in Quidditch posters – some missing corners or held up by only one corners or held up by only one corner, and hardly any of them were straight. The corridor was lit not by torches in brackets, but by large windows, outside which it was...

"Snowing?" Ben Finch-Fletchley said incredulously. "But it's April!"

"And isn't the Ministry underground?" Oscar Peakes askd.

"Yes, we are, and yes, that's snow," the Minister said. "Those are picture-windows, operated by Magical Maintenance. Usually, they reflect the weather outside, but when they're angling for a pay rise, we get gales and thunderstorms, and this week it's snow, because they were disappointed with the lack of snow this winter."

"I wish Hogwarts had magical windows..." Ruby sighed.

"It doesn't need to – it's got real windows," Theo told her shortly.

"Alright, the dungeons then!" Ruby retorted. "Our dormitories would look so much better with magical windows rather than just portholes out onto the lake."

Theo stuck his tongue out at Ruby, and she retaliated in a similar fashion.

"Children, children," Hugo said, adopting a condescending manner.

They both looked at him. "We're both older than you," Theo told Hugo.

"When you three have quiet finished, perhaps you'd like to keep up," Professor Hawksworth said. Theo, Ruby and Hugo hurried to catch up with the rest of the class, who were following the Minister through a set of double doors and into a mass of noise and chaos. The long corridor was lined with doors, most of them open. They all bore a plaque with the name of a British or Irish Quidditch team, although many of them were also covered with photos or posters.

"Each of the British and Irish Quidditch teams has an office here," Kingsley explained. "Coaches, managers, players and sponsors are always coming in and out."

The class spread out and began to explore.

"Remember that people are working here, and don't want disturbing by a bunch of teenagers," Professor Hawksworth cautioned.

Hugo edged towards the door marked 'Chudleigh Cannons'. Mia followed – having not grown up in the Wizarding World, she didn't follow a particular Quidditch team, unlike Hugo, who was a ferocious supporter of the Chudleigh Cannons, like his father before him.

Hugo peeked round the door and gasped. "Look!" he said, jabbing Mia in the ribs with his elbow.

"Ow!" Mia protested. "What?" She looked round the door and saw two men sitting in the office. The older wizard looked like he was perhaps the team's manager – he had greying hair and wore smart black robes edged in violent orange, the team colour. But Hugo's attention was focussed on the younger wizard, who was clearly a Quidditch player.

"It's Quentin King," Hugo breathed reverently.

"Who?" Mia asked.

"Who?" Hugo repeated. "Only the best Seeker the Cannons have ever had! He went to school with Vic – he was the best Seeker Ravenclaw ever had, too, and team fell apart when he left."  
The two wizards turned around to see Mia and Hugo standing in the doorway. Mia ducked back round the corner out of sight, but Hugo stood his ground.

"May we help you?" Quentin King asked, and Mia wondered momentarily whether Hugo might faint as his Quidditch crush spoke to him, but he recovered enough to go red to the tips of his ears and blurt out,

"Can I have your autograph?"

King hesitated for a fraction of a second and then smiled. "Of course," he said.

Hugo dug around in his bag and eventually produced a Chudleigh Cannons poster.

"Did you bring that on purpose?" Mia asked, and Hugo went even redder, if that were possible.

"You're a Weasley, aren't you?" King asked, accepting the poster from Hugo.

Hugo nodded. "I'm Hugo. Ron and Hermione's son."

"D'you play Quidditch, Hugo?" King asked, as he signed the poster.

"Not very well," Hugo mumbled. "Only with my cousins in the holidays and stuff."  
"Hugo Weasley, come away from there," Professor Hawksworth ordered, and Hugo jumped back as if stung by a stinging hex. Mia only knew he hadn't been because James, Fred and Chris had told them how Professor Cooke's predecessor had been sacked after only a few months of teaching for using stinging hexes to discipline unruly students.

"Did I not make myself clear enough when I said not to disturb anyone?" Professor Hawksworth asked, walking over to the little group which now surrounded the Chudleigh Cannons office door.

"Sorry, Professor, it was my fault," Quentin King said. "I asked young Mr Weasley if he wanted my autograph – all this fame's clearly going to my head." He winked at Mia and Hugo, and then shook his ex-Professor's hand.

"Not changed a bit, I see, Mr King," Professor Hawksworth said, smiling in spite of himself. "Still leading the younger generation astray."

Quentin King went a shade of crimson to rival Hugo's. "I call it ungentlemanly to bring that up after all these years, Professor," he protested. "Besides, I was just being a businessman – I found a need and filled it... how was I supposed to know the energy potion had unfortunate side effects...?"

"Of course; it wasn't at all your fault that half a dozen pupils ended up in the hospital wing," Professor Hawksworth said, with just a dash of the subtle sarcasm he was famous for. "Anyway, Mr King, I'm afraid I must relieve you of your adoring fans – Mr Weasley, Miss Dursley, if you'd like to join the rest of the class."

Mia and Hugo did as they were told, and joined the back of the line which was proceeding through the double doors at the other end of the corridor.

"I so need to hear that story in full..." Hugo sighed, as the door swung shut behind him.


	31. Chapter Thirty-One: Edna

Chapter Thirty-One

Edna

The class progressed slowly up the floors of the Ministry of Magic, through the Department of Transportation, the Department of International Magical Co-operation and the Department of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. On the second floor, which was home to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, they managed to run into both of Hugo's parents; his uncle, Harry; and his grandfather.

"Looks like your family makes up about half the Ministry workforce, Hugo," Theo grinned as they all piled into the lift, which was empty except for one wizard.

"Yeah, speak of the devil..." Hugo said. "Hi Uncle Percy."

Mia hadn't been paying the lone wizard any attention until now, but she now recognized him as Hugo's Uncle Percy, the third Weasley brother.

"Hi Hugo," Percy said. "Why am I the devil...?"

"Because we were talking about how pretty much the whole family work here, and then I saw you, so I said 'speak of the devil'," Hugo explained.

"I see," Percy smiled, although Mia noticed that the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "So, are you enjoying you field trip, then?" he asked, as the door slid open on: 'Level One: Minister for Magic and support staff.'

Hugo nodded enthusiastically. "I met Quentin King."

"Who?" Percy asked.

"I got his autograph!" Hugo continued.

"Quidditch player," Mia explained.

"Ah..." Percy said. "Well, I hope the rest of your day's as good – Quidditch players or no Quidditch players."

As they exited the lift, Percy went one way, and Mia and Hugo followed the Minister and Professor Hawksworth in the opposite direction.

"And this is my office," the Minister said, opening a mahogany door which bore a golden plaque which proclaimed: "Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister for Magic.'

The class followed him into a large room, well-lit from the picture windows (despite the snow). There was a large oval table in the centre, and towards the far end of the room, there was a door pulled to.

"This is where I receive guests and hold meetings," the Minister explained. "And through there-" he gestured to the door which was ajar "-is my personal office, where I work and answer correspondence. Now, if you'd all like to take a seat-" with a flick of his wand he conjured up half a dozen more chairs so there was room for everyone to sit down "-and I'll go and see if lunch is ready."

As the Minister left the room, everyone went to sit down, fighting over who was there, and playing a strange form of musicless chairs, as everyone tried to leave an empty seat beside them for the Minister. In the end, Professor Hawksworth solved the problem by leaving the seat for the Minister between himself and Dom.

After lunch, the class thanked the Minister for his time, and then gathered around the portkey, which transported them back to the first floor hall in Gringotts. Here, Mia met up with Lily for the first time since breakfast.

"I've been shopping!" Lily sung as she bounded up to Mia.

"In what subject?" Mia demanded.

"Supervised study," Lily grinned. "I've bought your birthday present."

"My birthday's not for six months," Mia protested.

"So I'll probably have lost it by then," Lily grinned. "Meh, it's the thought that counts. How was the Ministry?"

"Good," Mia nodded. "Hugo got some Quidditch player's autograph, so he's happy. And we saw your dad."  
Lily laughed. "And the rest of the family too, I imagine."

"Yeah – Hugo's parents, your granddad, and Percy," Mia nodded.

As the rest of the year began to arrive, Lily and Mia drifted over towards Hagrid, knowing that their last subject was Care of Magical Creatures. They were gradually joined by the rest of their class: Alexander, Kieran, a bunch of Ravenclaws, and three Slytherins, including Ilonka Kallous, who seemed to be too busy to get into fights with Lily this year.

Since the beginning of their first year, Lily and Ilonka – with her pureblood supremacy – had rubbed each other up the wrong way, leading to several duels in the last two-and-a-half years. However, since last summer, they seemed to have mellowed down somewhat, and seemed to have contented themselves with snide remarks and half-hearted name-calling. Mia thought that their feud was idiotic, but she was at least proud of Lily for managing to control her temper enough that she didn't fly off the handle at the slightest provocation anymore.

Now, it was clear that Ilonka was in a bad mood. She was stood on the edge of the group, arms folded, glaring across the room at someone. Mia couldn't exactly be sure who she was glaring at, but it looked like it might be Dove Ackerley.

"Righ'," Hagrid said. "Is everyone here?"

The class looked around, and then nodded their assent- no one was missing.

"Al'righ', everyone gather aroun' the portkey," Hagrdi said, and, once again, everyone gathered around a large silver platter, which looked somehow smaller than the previous portkeys in Hagrid's huge hands.

"Wait, where's Samuel?" Lily asked, as they waited for the portkey to depart.

"Already at the zoo," Hagrid explained. "Think he migh' be landin' himself an internship fer the summer."

As Hagrid finished speaking, the portkey gave a lurch, and the class were transported through nothingness, landing with a bump outside a tall, iron-wrought gate, atop which perched the words 'London Mazi Zoo'.

"Why couldn't we take the portkey straight into the zoo?" Lily asked Hagrid as they joined a short queue – mostly comprising of parents with young children – moving through a side gate marked 'entrance'.

"Because no one can apperate or take a portkey straigh' in teh the zoo," Hagrid explained. "They'd never be able teh make anyone pay teh get in, otherwise."

They soon reached the front of the queue, and the witch on the gate waved them in with a cheery 'welcome to the zoo'. Once inside the gate, Mia looked around. Straight ahead was a large enclosure, although Mia couldn't see any creatures in it from where she was. Paths lead off in all directions, leading deeper into the zoo and to other exhibits. Samuel Wood was walking along one of these paths, accompanied by a young witch in the zoo uniform – dark green robes with 'London Mazi Zoo' emblazoned on the pocket.

"Hello and welcome to the zoo!" Samuel said, throwing his arms wide theatrically, before winking at his companion.

Lily rolled her eyes. "You don't work here, Sam."

"Not yet," Samuel grinned. "So I am unable to conduct your tour today. But let me introduce you to Gaia, who can."

"Good afternoon, guys," the witch, Gaia, said. " _I'll_ be your tour guide today-" here she grinned at Samuel "-so let's get started."

The class and Hagrid followed Gaia and Samuel towards the first enclosure Mia had seen upon entering the zoo.

"What's in there?" Kieran asked, as the class spread out along the fence.

"Yeah, I can't see anything," Alexander added.

"Everyone look hard for a minute, and see if you can see anything," Gaia said. Mia, along with the rest of the class, looked into the enclosure for any signs of life. A couple of times she though she saw some plants moving, but she couldn't see what had caused it.

"They're chamels," Ilonka said boredly, at the same time as Kieran declared,

"There's nothing in there!"

"Says who?" Lily demanded of Ilonka, and Mia laid a warning hand on her friend's arm.

"Says _that._ " Ilonka pointed at an information plaque on the fence.

Samuel clapped slowly. "Excellent powers of observation..."

"Ilonka," Ilonka supplied, fluttering her eyelashes at him.

Samuel rolled his eyes and looked away.

Alexander nudged Mia. "Did Ilonka say they were _camels_?" he asked.

Gaia, who had overheard, smiled. "No, not camels, _chamels_."

"I still can't see anything," Kieran said.

"Chamels are shape-shifting, colour-changing lizards," Gaia explained.

"Like chamelions," Mia said.

"And not like camels," Alex added.

"Yes, the mundane lizard, the chameleon, is a result of a medieval wizard experimenting on a group of chamels," Gaia said. "His spells malfunctioned, stripping his group of chamels of their magical properties and shapeshifting abilities, but leaving some colour-changing ability. Muggles, encountering these malfunctioned chamels for the first time through that the frills surrounding their necks – something which since evolved out, since it made them too easy for predators to find – looked like lions, hence the name 'chameleon'."  
"But how come 'chamel' and 'camel' are so similar?" Alexander asked. "Surely it can't be a coincidence?"

"No, it's not," Gaia said. "Even earlier than the mutation of some chamels into chameleons – well before the International Statute of Secrecy – a wizard was travelling with a group of muggles, in the desert late at night. This was also before chamels were properly understood, and wizards and muggles alike believed that chamels were evil spirits.

"An animal, that which we now call a camel was following the group. The wizard heard the camel's steps and felt its breath on the back of his neck, and thought it was a chamel, so he shrieked 'chamel', but his companions misheard that as 'camel', and once they'd identified the creature, the name 'camel' stuck."

"I don't believe that," Ilonka said. "It's highly unlikely that one group of people's name for something could've spread to everyone. And what did they call camels before then?"

"Well, whether it's true or not, that's the accepted story," Gaia said. "Now then, who'd like to meet a chamel?"

The class seemed hesitant, and Mia voiced their concerns when she asked, "They're not... dangerous... are they?"

"No," Gaia smiled. "Ancient wizards only thought they were because they didn't understand them. In fact, chamels are completely harmless, and remarkably clever, too."

She vaulted over the fence, and walked around the enclosure, making clicking noises. Ilonka wandered off further along the fence, looking bored.

"Any idea why Ilonka's in such a mood?" Lily asked the group at large.

"Our team didn't finish this challenge in Ancient Runes in time," Brent, one of the Ravenclaw boys, shrugged. "Dove wouldn't run, and got back after the time limit, so we didn't get the prize. It was only skiving snackboxes, though – no big deal."

Gaia stooped down and picked up something which seemed to be invisible. But as Gaia walked back over to where the class were stood by the fence, Mia could just about see the lizard-like creature in her arms, despite its excellent camouflage.

"This is Edna," Gaia said. "She's about the most sociable chamel we have here. Who'd like to touch her? – she likes being scratched on her forehead.

Everyone hesitated, not wanting to be first. Eventually Kieran stepped forward and scratched Edna's head. Then he withdrew his hand sharply. "It licked me!"

"Chamel saliva has great medical power," Gaia told the class. "It slows down or sometimes even freezes the effects of injuries, poisons and curses, allowing more time for healing magic to be performed. It can sometimes also completely heal small cuts – like when you suck your finger if you cut it."

The rest of the class took their turns greeting Edna, and then Gaia set Edna back down inside the enclosure before jumping back out.

"So, are we ready to move on?"


	32. Chapter Thirty-Two: S, S & the WSC

Chapter Thirty-Two

Stealing, Silliness and the Wild Snitch-Chase

The class followed Gaia around the zoo, and she – with occasional inputs from Samuel and Hagrid – introduced them to plenty of magical creatures' some they'd seen before, some they'd only heard about and seen pictures of in Care of Magical creatures classes, and some they'd never even heard of before.

To Kieran's intense disappointment, there wasn't a chimera. ('Told you so,' Alexander gloated). There were, however, unicorns; hippogriffs; a particularly vicious fire crab who's enclosure was surrounded by a multitude of protective spells; and nifflers, knarls and a litter of baby krups in the petting zoo.

"This one likes me," Lily declared as they sat in the krups' pen, surrounded by the little dogs. The smallest one was perched precariously on Lily's shoulder, licking her ear. "Does krup spit have magical properties too?" she asked Gaia.

"I'm afraid not," Gaia said.

"Even so, I'd love one," Lily sighed.

Soon, it was time to head back to school. The class said thank you and goodbye to Gaia, who also extracted a promise from Samuel to come and volunteer at the zoo for a few days in the Easter holidays, and then headed for the exit.

"I'm ready for dinner," Lily declared as they joined the queue passing out of the exit gate.

As Lily and Mia walked through the gate, some sort of sensor went off and started making a loud beeping noise.

"Wait a minute, please," the attendant said, coming out of his booth and walking towards Lily and Mia. "May I check your bags, please?"

Mia held out her back for the gate-wizard to check. He took a quick look inside, and then moved on to Lily. Lily opened the flap of her backpack... and a dark wet nose poked out. The attendant reached in and pulled out one of the baby krups from the petting zoo.

"Almost every day, someone tries to steal one," he sighed, with an air of having done this before. "I can put you in touch with a breeder if you're that desperate. No one ever gets away with it, you know."

"It wasn't me!" Lily said. "I don't know how it got there! It must've... climbed in, or something."

The attendant rolled his eyes, and then conjured up a small cage to put the krup in. "And I've never heard that one before..."

"I'm not lying!" Lily said indignantly.

"Well, you do have a bit of a reputation for thinking rules don't apply to you," Ilonka said, pushing past. "And you _did_ say you really wanted one..."

"You!" Lily said, hurrying after Ilonka and drawing her wand. "You put the krup in my bag – you were trying to frame me!"

Ilonka smirked. "Now why would I waste my time doing something as infantile as that?"

Lily was about to say something – or perhaps even hex Ilonka – but Hagrid said, "Quick, all of yeh – gather roun' the portkey afore it goes without us!"

Everyone grabbed the portkey as fast as they could, and only just in time, because it took off the second Kieran grabbed it. When they landed in the Great Hall, it was to discover that they were the last ones back. The rest of the third year were milling around, waiting for lessons to end and everyone else to come down for dinner.

"How was the zoo?" Louis asked Lily and Mia as the three of them and Hugo congregated by the door into the Entrance Hall. "Have Samuel Wood and that Gaia girl snogged yet – Hugo said they were flirting all morning."

"Not yet," Mia grinned.

"Did you meet Edna the chamel?" Hugo asked.

"Uh-huh," Lily nodded, "and the kruppies. Ilonka tried to frame me for stealing one."  
"What?" Louis asked.

Lily started to explain, but the bell had just rung and, thirty seconds later, the rest of the school began to descend on the Great Hall and dinner, so she gave up. Louis and Hugo went to sit with their girlfriends, and so Lily and Mia sat opposite Matilda, Emma and JJ. Matilda demanded a full account of the field trip.

"I can't wait to be a third year," Matilda said reverently, at the end of their story, or at least as reverently as was possible through a mouthful of treacle tart. "Do you think there are chamels at Hogwarts?"

"It's possible," Mia shrugged. "None of us could see any of them until the guide picked one up – they could be everywhere, for all we know."

"I bet if we stayed really still and watched really carefully, we'd see one," Matilda said excitedly. "C'mon guys – let's go get Archie and go see. I bet that book in the Ravenclaw library hasn't got chamels in it – ours could."

"If there are even chamels at Hogwarts..." Lily warned, but Matilda, typically, wasn't listening. She hurried off in the direction of the Ravenclaw table, with Emma and JJ following in her wake.

They'd barely got up when Christopher Wood slid down to take their place.

"Hi guys," he said.

"Hey, Chris," Lily returned. "What've you done with James and Fred?"

"Snogging their girlfriends," Chris said disdainfully. "And I've had enough of being a fifth wheel to last me a lifetime these last few weeks."

"Poor, lonely Chris," Lily said, with the merest hint of sympathy. "We've been on a field trip today," she told him.

"So I heard," Chris said. "And now you've sent your 'little siblings' on a wild Snitch-chase for chamels."

"It might not be a wild Snitch-chase..." Mia protested.

"Perhaps not..." Chris conceded. "Regardless, I imagine you'd have a job stopping that Matilda girl when she's got her mind set on something."  
"That's Mattie alright," Lily yawned. "Chris, d'you have any other friends?" she asked, after a slight pause.

"Trying to get rid of me?" Chris grinned.

"No, I was just wondering... if James and Fred are with Chlo and Ruthie, does that mean you don't have anyone to hang out with? Louis and Hugo spend less time with us now they've got girlfriends. Is that just what happens when everyone gets older?"

"I guess," Chris shrugged.

"That sucks," Lily scowled.

On the Saturday following the third year field trip, it was time to head home for the Easter holidays. Many of the older students were staying at school over the holidays, in light of their fast approaching exams, so when the gang boarded the Hogwarts Express, it was to find it half-empty. They spread out into two compartments, Lily and Mia sitting with Mac and Theo.

Mac spent most of the journey making a sucession of badges and bewitching them to fly down the compartment to where Louis was sitting with Ailie.

Mia didn't realise quite how many badges Mac had been making until, as the rural scenery began to give way to more built up areas, Louis and Ailie walked past Lily, Mia, Mac and Theo on their way out of the compartment.

"We're going for a walk to get away from your badge bombardment," Louis said, dumping a full dozen badges on the table between the four of them.

Mia grinned a picked up a couple of badges – the first glowed silver and screamed 'veela hair! Veela hair!' untils she put it down again; the second read 'my current girlfriend's name is Ailie... I think...'

"Oooh, let me do one!" Lily said, and Mac handed over the badge maker. A few minutes later, she handed Mac a badge which read 'Lily Potter is awesome'.

Mac grinned. "I'll wear it proudly," he said, pinning the badge to his robes. "At least until we go back to school – I can't imagine Vicky'd take too kindly to me wearing a badge which proclaims another girl's awesomeness."

"Well Vicky's an idiot," Lily scowled. "I could make you a badge to that effect..."  
Mac reclaimed his badge maker with a, "that's my girlfriend you're talking about."

"But Mac, you were the one who named Vicky and that lot Ilonka's sheep," Lily complained. "And on the field trip, Ilonka-"

"Ilonka's an idiot, I'll give you that," Mac conceded. "And Brooke's not much better, but I can't see what you've got against Vicky – when she's not with Ilonka and all that that lot, she's actually quite nice."  
"If you say so," Lily yawned. "Right now I'm going to have a nap."  
"Not on my shoulder you're not," Mia said firmly, pushing her friend back upright.

"Anyway, I think we're almost there," Theo said.

Sure enough, two minutes later the train pulled into Platform 9¾ and everyone rushed to the windows to look out for their parents who'd come to take them home for the holidays.


	33. Chapter Thirty-Three: Binoculars

Chapter Thirty-Three

Mia spent the holidays quietly at home with her parents, not really doing much, but just enjoying being together – as much as Mia enjoyed school, she often missed her parents. She also spent a few days with Lily, when she came to stay for the weekend in the middle of the Easter break.

It was soon time to head back to school for Mia's final term of her third year at Hogwarts. Mia's parents both accompanied her to the station, and she said goodbye to them on the platform before joining up with Lily, and walking the length of the train, looking for someone to sit with.

"Lily, Mia, in here!" Matilda said, sticking her head out of a compartment.

"Yay, eight hours of Matilda," Lily muttered unenthusiastically as she and Mia followed Matilda into the compartment, where Emma was already seated, staring unseeingly out of the window.

"Hi, Emma," Mia said.

"Hi..." Emma said. She turned to face the others, and Mia gasped.

"What happened to your eye?" Lily demanded. Emma had a huge black eye, which looked to be a few days old – it was beginning to fade from black to purple.

"Eddie and I had a fight," Emma mumbled.

"Your brother did that?!" Lily asked incredulously. "What is he, like, eight?"

"Nine."

"Does it hurt?" Mia asked.

Emma nodded. "Some."

She turned back to look out of the window as the train pulled out of the station.

"Guess what I did in the holidays?" Matilda asked.

"I don't know, Matilda," Lily sighed. "But I'm sure you're going to tell us."

"We went on holiday to the beach, and saw loads of cool birds, and my dad bought me my own binoculars, and he said if I was careful I could bring them back to Hogwarts."

She reached into her bag and pulled out a pair of binoculars.

"What're they?" Lily demanded, somewhat interested.

"Binoculars," Matilda said.

"Yeah, I had that one figured out," Lily said sarcastically. "But what do they do?"

"Look through them," Matilda said, handing the binoculars over.

"What will they do to me...?"Lily asked suspiciously.

"They're not gonna hurt you," Mia said, as Matilda urged,

"Go on!"

Tentatively, Lily held the binoculars up to her eyes.

"Whoa! Matilda, you're huge!" Lily said. She took the binoculars away from her eyes and looked at Matilda and then replaced them. "So... what do these do, put a temporary engorging charm on whatever you're looking at? But no... they're muggle..."

"It's the lenses," Matilda explained. "It's like glasses, but on a grand scale. Turn them the other way and look through the other end."

Lily did as she was told. "Whoa – now you're tiny!"

Lily played with the binoculars for a little longer, then turned to Emma.

"Hey, Emma, d'you want a go?" Lily asked.

Emma looked away from the window long enough to mutter, "No thanks."

"We're all used to binoculars in the muggle world," Mia told Lily. "It's just you who's fascinated by them."  
"They are pretty cool," Lily said, handing the binoculars back to Matilda. "I wonder if my granddad has any... it'd be a great birthday present for him..."

As Mia half-listened to Lily and Matilda discussing how the former could go about buying some binoculars, she glanced at Emma, who was still staring unseeingly out of the window.

"Emma," Mia said, but her 'little sister' wasn't listening. "Emma," Mia repeated, louder, and this time the younger girl turned to look at Mia. "Are you okay?"

Emma nodded. "I'm just... missing my family."

"You're missing your brother, even though he gave you a black eye?" Matilda asked.

Emma hesitated slightly, and then nodded. "Yeah. I mean... I hit him too. He's my brother – of course I love him. Of course I miss him."

"I don't get how you can love someone you fight with... or you can fight with someone you love," Matilda said.

"That's because you don't have a brother," Lily grinned. "Siblings fight – it's what we do."

"There's a film we've got, where the girl says to her little brother... something like: 'there are times I could kill you, but I'd kill for you every day'," Emma volunteered.

"I still think it's weird..." Matilda said. "If someone gave me a black eye, I wouldn't be missing them."

* * *

For the rest of the journey back to Hogwarts, the four girls mostly avoided the topic of Emma's black eye, instead being subjected to a minute by minute account of Matilda's Easter holidays. They saw Mac wandering up and down the corridors, doing a roaring trade selling badges for the last two Quidditch matches of the year – Hufflepuff vs Ravenclaw, which was to take place the weekend before Victory Day; and Gryffindor vs Slytherin, the match which would most likely decide the Quidditch cup, and which would take place towards the end of June.

By the time they reached Hogsmede station, everyone was ready to go up to the castle for dinner and bed.

"How come we're always so tired after just sitting around on a train all day?" Alice asked the dormitory at large as they all got ready for bed.

"Sometimes I think sitting around doing nothing is more tiring than _doing_ stuff," Mia said, climbing into bed. "Goodnight, everyone."

She was met with a chorus of 'goodnight's, and then within ten minutes everyone was asleep.

* * *

The next morning, the Gryffindors' first lesson was Potions, so after breakfast, Lily and Mia headed down to the dungeon classroom and took their seats opposite Zoe and Cassie.

"How were your holidays?" Lily asked the two of them.

"Pretty good," Zoe nodded. "Except my dad wouldn't let me go to any Quidditch games until I'd done all my homework – I mean how unfair is that? I could've fitted it around Quidditch..."

"What about you, Cassie?" Mia asked. "Didn't you stay here again?"

Cassie nodded, grinning. "With Al."

Lily rolled her eyes. "I think it's weird you're dating my brother," she said. "I can't imagine he'd have much time for you over the holidays, though, what with all the revising."

"We had loads of time together," Cassie said. "Even if we were just both working at the same table or something – it's enough to just be near each other."  
She had started to go red, and hastily buried her head in her Potions book.

Mia reached into her bag for her Potions book. After fumbling around and looking for it by touch for a minute, she picked her bag up and had a proper look. It wasn't there.

"Has anyone seen my Potions book?" she asked the others. No one had.

"Maybe you left it at home?" Zoe suggested.

"I was sure I put it in my bag this morning..." Mia mused. "But maybe I did leave it at home – I'll have to write home and ask my parents."

"You can share mine for now," Lily said, shoving her book toward the middle of the table.

"Thanks," Mia said, as Professor Cooke closed the door and started the lesson.

In Wizarding Social Studies, Professor Hawksworth had the class writing thank you letters to the Minister, which Mia personally thought was a bit of a waste of time, but at least far less mentally taxing than the lengthy essay on the Ministry which they'd had to write over Easter. Theo and Hugo spent several minutes debating if it was plausibly possible to somehow get all the names of Kingsley Shaklebolt's predecessors into their letters.

That evening, as the Gang sat around in the Inter-House Common Room, Mia decided to put off her homework – a Potions essay, some Charms questions, and a whole chapter of Transfiguration reading, which was made all the more difficult by the fact that everyone had to keep borrowing each other's books since several people had lost theirs – for a while, and instead sat down to write another letter, this one to Will Darrow.

"This is so boring," Lily said, looking up from Cassie's copy of Intermediate Transfiguration. "What're you writing, Mia?"

"Letter to Will," Mia told her. "I didn't get round to replying to his last letter before Easter."

"I can't imagine there'd be much to reply to, the kind of letters he writes," Lily grinned. "What was it – two sentences?"

Mia grinned and pulled Will's last letter out of her bag to count. "Five, actually."  
"Quite an essay," Lily said. "Now then, has anyone seen my quill?"


	34. Chapter-Four: The Evils of Greenhouses

Chapter Thirty-Four

The Evils of Greenhouses

The penultimate Quidditch match of the season, Hufflepuff vs Ravenclaw, took place on the last day in April. It was an important day, not only for the two participating teams, but for Gryffindor and Slytherin too. If Hufflepuff won, Gryffindor would have to beat Slytherin by a large margin in order to retain the Quidditch cup. On the other hand, if Ravenclaw won, Gryffindor would only have to beat Slytherin by a smaller but still huge margin. However, a Ravenclaw victory would also be beneficial to Slytherin, since it meant they'd need to win by a smaller margin to win the Cup. So Gryffindor and Slytherin, by and large, were both supporting Ravenclaw.

Lily and Mia sat to watch the match with Louis and Ailie in the Ravenclaw stands.

"We need a quick Ravenclaw victory," Mia told Lily as they waiting for the game to start. "Then it's only Slytherin we've got to worry about."

"Hey, give us a chance to get some points," Louis protested. "We don't want the game to be over too quickly."

"But Ravenclaw can't win the cup," Lily reasoned. "Slytherin have already won two games – even if Ravenclaw win this one they'll have only won one."

They all turned to watch as the teams lined up and the captains shook hands. Then, on Madam Hooch's whistle, the fourteen players kicked off hard and soared into the air.

"Aaaand they're off!" Mac shouted into the magical megaphone. "And it's Ravenclaw's Jimmy Senior is possession, he passes to Boot, to Goldstein, back to... oooh, intercepted by the lovely Lovell, and it's Hufflepuff's Alicia Lovell heading for goal! But wait, what are the seekers doing? Surely they can't have seen the Snitch already?"

But they had. The two seekers – Ravenclaw's Di Ackerley and Hufflepuff's Gavin Cadwallder were diving towards a golden glint which was pretty much in the centre of the pitch. The pair of them were fairly evenly matched; the Hufflepuff captain was more experienced, but Ravenclaw's newest player was smaller and lighter, and had a marginally better broom. The two of them were neck and neck, but then Di pulled slightly ahead. Over half the school were cheering for her – if Ravenclaw won now then the cup would be a straight fight between Gryffindor and Slytherin.

Di closed her hand around the Snitch, and the crowd roared. Mia could barely hear what Mac was saying into the magical megaphone above the din, but a lot of it sounded like swearing.

* * *

Two days later, it was time for the annual Victory Day ceremony; the commemoration of the sacrifice made well before any of the current Hogwarts students had been born, so that they could be born and live in peace. It was a solemn day, but somehow also a joyful one. Mia, sat with Lily, Emma and Matilda during the ceremony, was surprised that Matilda managed to keep quiet the whole time.

"Of course I can be quiet when I need to," Matilda said when Mia asked her about it afterwards. "Why d'you think I talk so much the rest of the time – it's to make up for all the times I'm quiet."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Crazy. I told ya."

"At least it's better than me talking at inappropriate times, like when I'm trying to see some creature, or back there," Matilda protested.

In the afternoon, most of the witches and wizards who'd come from outside Hogwarts for the Victory Day ceremony hung around, reminiscing and holding their own private memorials. The Weasleys gathered to remember their fallen warrior, George's twin brother Fred. Despite everyone reassuring Mia that she belonged to the Weasley family, Mia felt that this was one day a year when it was best to leave the Weasley family to grieve privately, so instead she spent the afternoon with Emma and Matilda.

"Loads of people died..." Emma said quietly, as the three of them sat in the shade of a beech tree not far from the lake. "We learnt about it in Modern History of Magic, but today makes it more... real."  
"Mmm..." Mia agreed. "I guess if someone in your family died, it's always seemed real even from when you were very little, but for muggle borns like us..."

"Those talks the Head Boy and Head Girl did, d'they do them every year?" Matilda asked, and Mia nodded. "Maybe that'll be me someday..." Matilda mused, stretching out on the grass. "But then what would I say? – I guess Muggle borns don't have stuff to say about the War."

"Will, who was the Head Boy in my first year, is a Muggle Born," Mia said, "and he talked about the role of Muggle Borns in the War. The Head's tributes don't have to be about people in your family."

"And I'd have to be made Head Girl first," Matilda sighed. "Which isn't very likely... I don't think the teachers like me very much."

"Probably because you talk too much in lessons," Emma ventured.

"I don't talk too much," Matilda protested. "I talk just the right amount."

"But maybe you and teachers have different ideas of how much talking is too much," Mia reasoned.

* * *

At dusk, everyone gathered at the lakeside for the reading of the names of the fallen; the names of those who died not only in the Battle of Hogwarts, but also in the three proceeding years which encompassed the Second Wizarding War. It was a list which began with 'Cedric Diggory' and ended with 'Severus Snape'. As the names were read, friends and family members sent up sparks with their wands, visual reminders of the people who had lived, fought and died. By the time the final name had been read, dark had fallen.

* * *

As May progressed, a kind of deathly hush fell upon the castle as students began revision in earnest. Exams would take place in the final two weeks of June, and, for the first time, the third years' exams would be spread over both weeks.

"It's unfair!" Hugo said, as the gang sat in the Inter-House Common Room one evening towards the end of June.

"Welcome to my world," Mac grinned. "And you guys were right gits last year, what with your sleepover and stuff whilst I was still revising."

"It's my turn to wind you all up this year," Ailie grinned, lifting her head from Louis' lap and promptly banging it on her textbook which she'd bewitched to levitate into a convenient reading position.

"You do that and I'll... tickle you!" Louis declared, digging Ailie in the ribs and making her giggle; everyone had long since discovered that Ailie was extremely ticklish.

"Louis, get off!" Ailie giggled, wriggling and trying to get away from him.

"Anyway," Lily said, diverting attention away from Louis and Ailie's tickle fight. "We've got the last Quidditch match before then."

"Yeah, our lot are gonna cream you," Theo grinned.

"No you're not!" Lily said heatedly.

"Yeah. We are," Theo insisted. "You could win, and we'd still win the Cup. You guys'd have to pull an awful lot out of the bag to beat us to the Cup – you have to win by 230 points or more, don't you?"

"And we will!" Lily said insistently.

"We'll see," Theo grinned.

James had got the team together and devised a new training schedule, with longer, less frequent practices, 'So we can focus on Quidditch when we're playing, and revision when we're not.' In public, James was very blasé about his upcoming NEWTs, but he was usually one of the last ones left in the Common Room each night.

They had one final practice the night before the match – the Quidditch final took place on the Saturday, and exams started on the Monday.

"Okay, guys, I think we're ready as we'll ever be," James said, as they got changed back into their school robes afterwards. "We've just gotta go out there and play our best tomorrow, like we all know we can. Everybody, but particularly you, Sam, keep an eye on the score, cuz we have to win spectacularly to win the Cup. Now, I think we're all due an early night, and I'll see you all bright and early."

"You won't need to do a pep talk in the morning, James," Lily grinned at her brother as they walked back up to the castle. "You've said it all already."

James grinned back. "Quidditch is one of the things I'm gonna miss most about this place," he said seriously. "So it better be a good last match."

"You could play professionally, though," Lily reasoned.

"I could..." James agreed, in a voice which added silently, 'but I'm not gonna'. "I'm gonna spend this next year working at Wheezes with Uncle George and Fred, and travelling, and then we'll see about the whole Auror thing..."

"And then you'll give me the Map?" Lily suggested hopefully.

"Nice try, Lil," James grinned, ruffling her hair. "It's Al's first, then yours."

"Damnit," Lily scowled.

When they reached the Gryffindor Common Room, Matilda was holding forth to a small audience about the evils of greenhouses, or prisons, as she called them. Lily and Mia grinned at each other, and then headed for the dormitories, ignoring Matilda's calls of, 'Lily! Mia! Come and listen!'


	35. Chapter Thirty-Five: The Quidditch Cup

Chapter Thirty-Five

The Quidditch Cup

Mia woke early on Saturday, and hurried to the window to check the conditions. The clear blue skies promised a hot day, and Mia hoped the match didn't go on too long – she didn't fancy playing under the midday sun.

Lily joined her. "How's it looking?"

"Good," Mia nodded. "So long as it doesn't get too hot."

Lily and Mia dressed and headed down to breakfast before the rest of their dormitory was awake. At the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, they found James and Fred already assembled – James shovelling down a bowl of porridge, and Fred picking at some toast.

"Morning all," James said brightly. "Ready to go out there and win this thing?"

"Absolutely," Lily said, sitting down opposite her brother. "My stomach seems to disagree, however."

"Have some bacon," James said, through a mouthful of porridge. "Bacon fixes everything." He shoved the serving dish towards her.

As the four of them ate breakfast, the Great Hall filled up around them. They were soon joined by Roxanne, Mary and Samuel, and then the team had to endure dozens of people coming over to wish them luck, or else jeer at them.

"I think they should have private rooms for the teams to have breakfast on match days," James grumbled, after the team had been forced to endure the fifth variation on 'let's hope our guys make it relatively easy for you.'

"Seconded," Roxanne sighed. "I shouldn't've thought it was too much to ask to just eat breakfast in peace."

The Gryffindor team left the Great Hall before the rest of the school, to cheers and applause from their fellow Gryffindors, and boos and catcalls from the Slytherins. The support of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs was fairly evenly divided, since the Cup was now a straight fight between Gryffindor and Slytherin ('although it's about the wonkiest thing I've seen called "straight",' James grumbled).

Once in the changing rooms, the team waited for James' pep talk, but he merely shrugged and said,

"I said it all last night. We know what we've gotta do. Let's get out there and do it."  
The seven of them walked out onto the pitch, to a roar from the crowd and an introduction from Mac,

"It's the Gryffindors! Potter, Weasley, Potter, Weasley, Cattermole, Dursley aaaaaaaaand Wood!"

The Gryffindors waited for the Slytherins to arrive, which they did a minute or so later. The captains – James, and the Slytherin Beater, Gage Bole – shook hands.

"Mount your brooms," Madam Hooch said. "On my whistle."

On Madam Hooch's whistle, Mia kicked off hard from the ground and flew toward the goal hoops.

"Aaaand they're off!" Mac shouted into his magical megaphone. "It's Gryffindor in possession – Boy Potter passes to Weasley, to Girl P– intercepted by Slytherin's Myles, he passes to McLaggan, Zabini, nice Bludger there from Weasley, Zabini drops the Quaffle, and James Potter catches it-"

Mia watched as the Chasers, barely moving from the centre of the pitch, passed the Quaffle back and forth, every couple of passes being intercepted or interrupted by a Bludger, so that possession changed almost too quickly for Mac to call it out.

It was almost five minutes into the match when Gryffindor got their first break.

"And it's the Gryffindor Captain in possession – he passes to Girl Potter, back to Boy Potter, Girl Potter, Weasley, and it's Gryffindor's Fred Weasley heading for goal!"

Mia watched as Fred headed up the pitch, dodging first a Bludger, then Ruby McLaggan, and finally the Slytherin Captain Bole, who'd sent a Bludger at him, until he was out in front, with just the Keeper, Madison Montague, between him and the goal hoops.

"And Weasley's preparing to score... he shoots... oooh! Saved by Montague, and the score's still 0-0!"

Mia sighed as Montague passed the Quaffle back to second year Zabini, and play resumed. Now it seemed like it was time for Slytherin's first attack on goal. Zabini, by far the smallest player on the Slytherin team, wended his way up the pitch, dodging players, balls, and even a stray balloon which a first year had brought to the match, and only passing when he found himself simultaneously ambushed by James and Fred. He threw the Quaffle downwards, and it was caught by Ruby. This was one of the reasons Mia found Quidditch infinitely more interesting than any Muggle sports she'd played at Primary School – it was played in three dimensions.

"It's McLaggan in possession, she passes to Myles, back to McLaggan, to Myles, McLaggan, to – whoa! Where did Zabini come from?"

Ruby had passed the Quaffle to Zabini, who came up from behind – the kid was fast, Mia thought – and was now heading towards the goal hoops where Mia hovered, waiting.

"So, it's Zabini heading for goal – he may be the new kid on the block, but-"

"Mac?" Professor Longbottom interrupted him.

"Yeah?"

"Zabini's just scored."

"I was getting to that," Mac protested.

Whilst Mac had been talking, Zabini had flown brazenly toward Mia's right hand hoop, still at top speed, and then as Mia moved to block him, Zabini had thrown the Quaffle around Mia. By the time Mia turned around, the Quaffle had gone through the left hand hoop, and Zabini had almost crashed into the right hand hoop, having to swerve hard to avoid it.

"Slytherin score," Mac said, slightly grumpily, although Mia guessed this had little to do with the goal and a lot to do with Professor Longbottom interrupting his commentary.

Mia retrieved the Quaffle and passed it to Lily, and play resumed. As the game wore on and neared the hour mark, Mia had to admit that Zabini was a dynamo. Whilst she managed to block over half of Ruby and Myles' attempts on goal, she had so far been unable to block any of Zabini's gaols. He didn't even need the rest of his team to be able to score, and the Quaffle seemed to be magnetically attracted to him, so that he rarely dropped it, even when rolling and diving to avoid Bludgers.

"SLYTHERIN SCORE!" Mac yelled into the magical megaphone. "Another superb goal from Asher Zabini extends his team's lead – Slytherin lead, 90 points to 40."

Mia passed the Quaffle back to James, noting the grim frown on his face. Regardless of the outcome of this match, Gryffindor were guaranteed at least second place in the Quidditch Cup, but second wasn't something any of them even wanted to contemplate, despite the fact that first was looking more and more unlikely as Slytherin pulled further and further ahead.

"SNITCH ALERT! SNITCH ALERT!" Mac practically screamed into the magical megaphone.

Sure enough, Mia watched as Scorpius and Samuel both dived – Scorp after the Snitch and Samuel after Scorp. James had spent the past two or three weeks drumming it into Samuel – and often the rest of the team too, or so it felt to Mia – that the Snitch couldn't be caught until Gryffindor were at least forty points up. Gryffindor were in this for the long game.

"Bludgers! Bludgers! Bludgers!" James screamed, hugging the Quaffle to his chest as he watched the Seeker's progress. Roxanne obligingly sent a Bludger at Scorpius, which James had to roll to avoid, as he was directly in its path. He dropped the Quaffle, and Zabini caught it. Mia tore her eyes away from the race for the Snitch, and forced herself to focus on attempting to block Zabini's attempt on goal, a mission which proved fruitless. As she returned to playing height from retrieving the Quaffle, Mia heard Mac announce,

"Well, the Snitch appears to have disappeared... can something 'appear' to have 'disappeared'...? Isn't that a contradiction...?"

"Score, Mac?" Professor Longbottom sighed. "And then perhaps some commentary?"

"100-40 to Slytherin, and some member of the extended Weasley family has the Quaffle... neither of which are nearly so interesting as my philosophical musings..." Mac pouted.

"Then perhaps you should host a talk show in the Inter-House Common Room one night?" Professor Longbottom suggested. "But right now, commentary if you please."

"If you insist," Mac sighed. "So, it's Slytherin in possession now – Myles, Zabini, McLaggan, My- intercepted by boy Potter, he passes to Weasley, back to boy Potter, Weasley, boy Potter, girl Potter, Weasley, girl Potter, she shoots... she scores! Nice goal there from Gryffindor's Lily Potter, but Slytherin still lead, 100 points to 50."

In the next half-hour, Gryffindor began to claw back some more territory, which was then all lost back after a three-goals-in-five-minutes blitz from Zabini.

"So, Slytherin still lead, 140 points to 80," Mac said. "But... is that the Snitch again?"

Mia looked to where he was pointing. Sure enough, she could just about make out a glint of gold at the foot of the stands, not far from the goalhoops she was guarding. Zabini scored again. Okay, well maybe she wasn't guarding them very well. She watched as Samuel and Scorp dived again.

"Come on, Samuel!" Mia yelled. All he had to do was what he'd done last time – block Scorp for long enough for the Snitch to disappear, to buy James, Fred and Lily time to score more goals.

Samuel flew directly into Scorp's flight path in an attempt to block is opponent, but Scorp merely rolled to avoid him and continued on toward the Snitch. Samuel wheeled round and was soon hot on his tail, gradually gaining on him, so that they neared the Snitch neck and neck.

Scorp reached out for the Snitch... and Samuel beat him to it, snatching the Snitch from the air and holding it aloft in his clenched fist, somewhat defeatedly.

"GRYFFINDOR WIN!" Mac shouted. "FINAL SCORE: 230 POINTS TO 150! GRYFFINDOR WIN THE MATCH BUT SLYTHERIN WIN THE CUP!"

Mia few down to the ground, feeling disappointed, but not particularly surprised – she'd know after Zabini's first goal that it was going to be a tall order to get forty points up before catching the snitch.

Mia landed beside Lily. "What did Sam catch the snitch for?" Lily grumbled, as they waited for the rest of the team to join them.

"To save us from complete disgrace," Mia told her. "Imagine if we'd lost the match 300-80, and the Cup."

"I guess," Lily sighed.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the long delay in updating - when I reached the end of the chapters uploaded and ready to go, I just... stopped. But the last nine chapters are all edited and uploaded, so with any luck you should get two a week (Monday and Thursday) until this thing's finished.


	36. Chapter Thirty-Six: Implosion

Chapter Thirty-Six

Implosion

James declared that the Gryffindor team would hide out in an empty classroom until bedtime, to avoid the inevitable tirade of abuse from Josh Young. The rest of the team quickly talked him down – hiding in a chilly deserted classroom with James standing guard with the Marauders Map was not their idea of a good way to spend their evening. Besides, exams started in two days' time, and there was still a lot of revision to be done.

The team left the changing rooms to jeers and boos from a group of Slytherins who'd seemingly waited around just to poke fun at the Gryffindors. Scorpius was stood slightly apart from the group, and as the Gryffindor team emerged from the changing rooms, he stepped forward to shake Samuel's hand. "It was a good call," he said sincerely. "I guess I would've done the same thing."

"Thanks," Samuel nodded.

The team headed up to the Gryffindor Common Room en masse, thankfully shaking off their Slytherin entourage in the Entrance Hall as they headed down to join the party.

The team took their time making their way up the seven flights of stairs which led to Gryffindor tower, but eventually they had to face the inevitable. "Blancmange," James said dismally to the Fat Lady.

"And the same to you, dear," the Fat Lady hiccoughed – she had a habit of binge drinking on match days. The portrait swung forward to admit the team. The Gryffindor room had been filled with a subdued hum of chatter, but at the team's arrival it fell silent.

"We failed you," James said soberly as he stepped through the portrait hole. " _I_ failed you. Come hex me if you want – if it'd make you feel better... it might make me feel better."

The silence lengthened, and then was eventually broken by Chris. "You didn't fail us," he said. "You were just beaten by a better team... that Zabini kid's something else."

"You all did your best," Ruthie Blue said, stepping forward to hug Fred. "That's all any of us could've asked for."

Alexander jumped onto a chair (and only became marginally taller than everyone else). "Three cheers for our Gryffindors, the valiant runners up!"

His cheers were echoed by the vast majority of the inhabitants of Gryffindor tower, which cheered the team up somewhat. After that, everyone turned back to their conversations and the Gryffindor team dispersed. Lily and Mia went to sit with Emma and Matilda.

"Did you guys know-" Matilda began, almost before Lily and Mia had sat down.

"Probably not, and I probably don't want to either, but I imagine you'll tell me anyway," Lily sighed.

Matilda grinned. "I wasn't exactly going to tell you anything... well... I was... but only so I can ask you something else..."

"Get on with it, then, if you're gonna," Lily yawned.

"Okay, then, did you know it's about impossible to find something to write a book on that isn't made from trees?" Matilda said.

Lily snorted. Then she looked at Matilda. "You're actually serious, aren't you?"

Matilda nodded. "We're trying to write our book about the plants and animals in the grounds, like the one in the-" she grew deadly silent and mouthed the next two words "-Ravenclaw library-"before returning to her usual volume "-but we don't know what to write it on..."

"Why don't you ask you parents?" Lily asked. "I expect they're more experienced in hippy paper-avoidance than we are."  
"But I'd have to _write_ to them to ask them... on paper!" Matilda said indignantly. Mia giggled at the irony.

"Surely you haven't not written to your parents all year, just because it'd involve using paper?" Lily demanded.

"No, but we only write when it's strictly necessary," Matilda said. "And writing to them on paper to ask them about how not to use paper would be... what's the word?"

"Ironic," Mia supplied. "Why don't you just use paper, and then plant a tree or two to make up for it?"

"Or reuse old homework sheets or the margins of boring textbooks?" Lily suggested.

"Or just condense it into the two sheets you and your parents have saved by not writing to each other?" Mia grinned.

"You're not taking this seriously!" Matilda said indignantly.

"Merlin Mattie, we can't all be like you!" Lily returned. "We were trying our best – take it or leave it."

"Humpf," Matilda snorted. "You'll all be sorry when the earth implodes!" she got up and stalked off towards the portrait hole. Lily and Mia looked at each other and giggled. "Emma! Are you coming for a walk?" Matilda called back over her shoulder.

Emma got to her feet. "See you guys later," she said to Lily and Mia.

"Have fun on your walk with Little Miss Environment," Lily grinned as Emma walked off to follow Matilda.

"Uh oh..." Mia said.

"What?" Lily demanded.

Mia pointed. Whilst watching Emma and Matilda, she'd spotted Josh Young walking across the Common Room towards where James was sitting with Chris.

"Oh, great," Lily sighed. "Here we go again."

It was clear that James wasn't happy to see Josh, as he swore at him before he even reached where he was.

Josh gave him a two-fingered salute. "All hail King Unstoppable Potter, who appears to have been... stopped."

"What do you want, Josh?" James sighed.

"To tell you you were abysmal," Josh shrugged.

"I already know I was. So you can get lost."

Josh stood his ground, the volume in the room starting to drop as everyone began to notice the argument.

"You know, if you'd made me Keeper instead of Dursley-" Josh began.

"I didn't make anyone Keeper – that was Danielle's decision," James interrupted.

"-I would've blocked way more of Zabini's goals," Josh continued, regardless.

"Sure you would," James yawned.

Josh drew his wand, and James imitated him.

"What are you doing?" James sighed.

"You said I could hex you," Josh shrugged. He began to cast a spell, but James deflected it, and then Chris hastily cast a shield charm between them.

"Go away, Josh," he said. "If you try anything else you'll have more than just James to answer to."

"Oooh, I'm so scared," Josh fake-whined. "You're not worth my time, Potter – you're far from all you're cracked up to be."

He turned and walked off.

"Show's over, folks," James said loudly. "Chris, would you move this damn shield charm so I can like breathe or something?"

* * *

Exams started on Monday morning, and Mia's first exam was Ancient Runes. At breakfast, she sat with Lily, Louis and Ailie, and she and Louis tested each other. Lily was smug because her exams didn't start until tomorrow.

"I might go for a walk in the sun before I start revising," Lily grinned.

"Shut up, Lily," Louis growled.

"I was just saying," Lily sighed.

"And I'll be just punching you in a minute," Louis scowled.

"I don't know why you're stressing, anyway – you always breeze exams," Lily scowled back.

"Because I rely on my photographic memory and some last minute cramming," Louis told her shortly. "And you're eating into my cramming time, so shut it."

"I wish I had your memory," Ailie sighed, hugging Louis' arm.

"But then you wouldn't be you," Louis grinned, kissing her forehead.

Lily pretended to vomit into her cereal.

"Right," Louis said abruptly, straightening up violently so that he bumped Ailie's head with his shoulder blade. "Oh, sorry, Ailie... shall I kiss it better?"

Lily fake-vomited into her cereal again.

"Okay, let's go," Louis said, ignoring his cousin. "If we don't know it now, we're not gonna." He stood up and then pulled Ailie to his feet. "C'mon – time to go ace your Charms."

Mia walked out of the Great Hall with Louis and Ailie. They said goodbye to Ailie on the second floor and then headed on upwards to the fourth floor and Ancient Runes.

"Good luck," Louis grinned at Mia as they entered the classroom.


	37. Chapter Thirty-Seven: Two and Two Equals

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Two and Two Equals...

As the first week of exams drew on, Mia found herself settling into the new routine. In addition to exams and revision and meals and sleep, Matilda badgered Lily and Mia until they agreed to go on a short walk around the grounds after dinner before starting revision. In the end it turned out to be oddly refreshing, and Mia went back up to the Gryffindor Common Room ready to work.

For the first time since they'd started Hogwarts, Mia and her friends' exams were spread over two weeks, so whilst the first and second years celebrated the end of their exams at the weekend, everyone else still had another week to go.

"It's not fair!" Lily grumbled as she and Mia sat in the Gryffindor Common Room on Saturday evening, trying to work not far from where a bunch of first and second years were conducting a noisy game of exploding snap. "And I wish they'd shut up," she added, after a particularly large explosion.

"Seconded," James yawned – the table he and Chlo had claimed for the day was right next to the one Lily and Mia had chosen. "Maybe they'd go outside if it stopped raining."

Mia sighed and pushed her History of Magic notes across the table away from her and picked up her Herbology book instead. "Failing History of Magic is a foregone conclusion – I might as well focus on something I have a reasonable likelihood of passing."

"Shh!" Lily said angrily, sticking her fingers in her ears. "It's bad enough trying to work with them lot making a racket without you wittering on too!"

Mia grinned – Lily always did get disproportionately worked up by exams – and turned back to her revision. The next time Mia checked her watch it was nearly six o'clock and the Common Room was starting to empty around them as people headed down for dinner.

"Lily, we should probably go eat," she said to her friend.

"I've got chocolate, I'll just eat that," Lily shrugged, barely glancing up from her book.

"No you won't," Mia said firmly, pulling her friend to her feet. "Real food, and then maybe even one of Matilda's famous walks."

At dinner, Lily and Mia sat opposite James, Fred and Chris.

"Ditched your girlfriends, have you?" Lily grinned at her brother and cousin.

"Yeah, we felt sorry for poor single Chris, so we through we'd sit with him," Fred grinned, slapping Chris on the back.

"Although we sometimes wonder if it'd be kinder to find him a girlfriend..." James added.

"You two would suck at being matchmakers," Chris said.

"Fred might be, but I take the credit for getting him and Ruthie together," James shrugged.

"Are you two _still_ eating?" Hugo asked, squashing onto the bench next to Mia.

"We've only just started," Lily said indignantly.

"Slowpokes," Hugo shrugged, helping himself to what Mia guessed was a second helping of apple pie. "Can I revise with you after you've finished eating? Rachel's abandoned me to go revise with her Social Studies group."

"I love how you only want to hang out with us when Rachel's ditched you," Mia grinned. "We're gonna go for a walk first, maybe with Matilda and her posse if we can find them."

"They've already gone – saw 'em leave about fifteen minutes ago," Hugo said.

"Good," Lily said. "I don't mind the walk, but if I have to listen to Matilda pointing out eight million different types of algae one more time..."

After they'd all finished eating, Lily, Mia and Hugo went for a short walk in the grounds and then headed back up to the Gryffindor Common Room for more revision. Matilda had constructed herself a 'stage' composed of half a dozen small tables on the far side of the room, and was holding forth to a (very) small audience. Mia couldn't hear every word, but caught occasional snatches of 'imprisonment', 'when the world implodes', 'unsustainable' and 'TREES!'

"I wish she'd shut up," Lily sighed. "It's alright for some – finished exams already."

The three of them sat down, and had barely started working when they noticed a disturbance breaking out not far from them. James was stalking across the Common Room like a big cat stalking its prey. It didn't take Mia long to spot his target – Josh Young.

Josh was sat at the table adjacent to Lily, Mia and Hugo – the same table James and Chlo had occupied all afternoon. He got to his feet defensively as James approached.

"What, Potter?" he demanded.

"Give. It. Back," James growled.

"Give what back?" Josh asked, sounding confused.

"My wand, you-" he called Josh a name Mia was fairly sure he wouldn't have dared use if there were any teachers present.

"Why the hell would I have your wand?" Josh demanded.

"I don't know, you tell me," James bit back. "It was here-" he slammed his first down onto the table "-and now it's not. And you are. It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together and come up with-"

"Five," Josh said, at the same time James said 'four'. "You have been known to jump to conclusions before, but this is beyond that, even for you."

"I am in the middle of the most important exams of my life, and I cannot afford for my wand to go missing right now!" James yelled, his voice cracking. "Which, of course, is why you took it, isn't it?"

Josh rolled his eyes. "I am so done with this dumb conversation."

"Well I'm not." James grabbed Josh by the front of his robes and slammed him against the table. "Give. Me. Back. My. Wand."

"For the last time, I don't have it!" Josh said. "Let go of me!"

He drew his wand and shot what looked like a stinging hex at James hard enough that James yelped and let go. "Sporting – attacking someone who can't defend himself," James growled. "Why don't you give me my wand back and we can make this a fair fight?"

"I haven't got it!" Josh practically screamed, before storming off towards the portrait hole.

Silence fell – or at least relative silence, since Matilda was still blazing about what the Hogwarts student body would do one there were no trees left, and therefore no wands or textbooks – and then the noise level began to rise again.

"I think my brother's finally lost the plot," Lily said at length. "I don't know why even Josh would want to steal James' wand – has he even looked around under the table and stuff?"

Mia was thinking. Eventually she said aloud: "I'm starting to think maybe somebody did take it..."

Lily made a 'really' face. "I think James is just a clumsy grumpy git," she said. "And I'm allowed to say that cuz I'm his sister."

"James' wand, Rachel's wand, Ailie's wand," Mia listed. "And there could be more we don't know about. I know we always tell Ailie she's being paranoid when she starts up with 'my wand was stolen', but it's too much of a coincidence – they were all here one minute, gone the next, never to be seen again."

"If someone has stolen them, it's probably a Gryffindor, since Ailie, Mary and James all are," Hugo reasoned.

"Not necessarily," Mia said. "Ailie left her wand in a classroom, didn't she? And Mary lost hers in the Inter-House Common Room."

"But James' wand was just there," Lily said, gesturing to the now-vacant table. "So, the thief has to be a Gryffindor."

"Are you sure it's not Josh?" Hugo asked. "He did intercept James' MI's last year."  
"But why would he take Ailie's and Mary's wands?" Mia asked. "Mary's maybe, because she's on the team, but why Ailie... and he looked genuinely surprised when James confronted him. It's not Josh."

"What about all the missing textbooks?" Lily asked. "I don't think that's just us being clumsy either – we've never lost that many textbooks between us before."

She and Mia looked at each other, simultaneously coming to the same conclusion,

"Matilda."


	38. Chapter Thirty-Eight: Stealing Things

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Stealing Things

"Matilda?" Hugo queried.

"Listen to her," Mia said – Matilda was now explaining the concept of E-books, and why they were a fantastic solution to deforestation, if only they could solve the problem of electricity not working at Hogwarts. "She's always going on about 'what will we do when this or that happens?' and 'we'll all be sorry when that or this happens'... maybe this is her way of making us experience a world without trees..."

The three of them all watched Matilda some more.

"So... what do we do now?" Hugo asked.

"Get proof," Lily said.

"Where would you hide stuff if you were Matilda?" Mia asked her friends.

"Under my bed," Lily said promptly.

Hugo rolled his eyes. "Really, Lily? Under your bed?"

"Yeah, I would, and I think Matilda would too," Lily said defensively. "If she didn't think anyone was going to suspect her – and she clearly doesn't, the way she's carrying on there."

"Okay, let's go investigate," Mia said, getting to her feet. "Hugo-"

"The stairs'll turn into a slide if I try to go up there," Hugo said.

"I know – you'll have to keep watch and stop Matilda – or anyone from that dormitory – coming up," Mia told him.

"And how am I supposed to do that?" Hugo asked.

"Tell them... tell them Peeves is wreaking havoc," Lily suggested. "Say a prefect told you not to let them up. See you in a minute."

Lily and Mia headed off in the direction of the girls' dormitories. Mia followed Lily up the stairs but stopped her as they reached the door to the first years' room.

"We'd better knock, in case there's someone in there," Mia said. She'd seen Emma watching Matilda downstairs, but that still left the other three girls unaccounted for.

Lily knocked. She and Mia waited for thirty seconds with no response, and then Lily pushed the door open, and she and Mia walked inside.

"Which one's Matilda's bed?" Mia mused, trying to remember from when she and Lily had been in here before Christmas.

"This one," Lily said, pulling back the hangings on the bed nearest the door to reveal the 'Keep Calm and Plant Trees' poster. She and Mia both crouched down and looked under the bed.

"D'you see anything?" Mia asked.

"Nope," Lily said. She lay down and wriggled the top half of her body under the bed. "No. Nothing."

"So... what do we do now?" Mia pondered, a minute later as she and Lily sat side by side on Matilda's bed. "We can't be wrong..."

"Maybe she hid it somewhere else – under the bed was a bit obvious," Lily said.

"But where?"

"You know," Lily began, "if I really wanted to hide something, I might hide it under _your_ bed."

"Thanks a lot!" Mia said, but they both got up to check under Emma's bed.

Lily pulled a wooden box out from under Emma's bed. "I wonder what's in here," she said. She lifted the lid. "Bingo."

The box contained about a dozen textbooks and three wands.

"This is James' wand," Lily said, picking it up.

Mia flipped open one of the Standard Book of Spells' to see her own name in the front. "So... what do we do now...?"

She and Lily looked at each other.

"I guess we better tell Professor Longbottom," Mia said eventually.

Lily nodded her agreement. "I'll go – you stay here and keep guard."

"Okay," Mia nodded.

Lily headed out, and Mia was left alone. It felt like hours until she heard footsteps coming up the stairs again, although it was only about ten minutes. The door opened, and Professor Longbottom, Lily and Hugo came in.

"They're in this box that was under Emma's bed," Lily said, leading Professor Longbottom over to the box, which was still open where she and Mia had left it. Professor Longbottom inspected the contents of the box, his face grave.

"But you said you suspected Matilda of stealing these?" Professor Longbottom asked the three of them.

"She's down there talking about what we'd do if there were no trees we could use to make wands or textbooks," Mia explained. "It's the kind of thing Matilda would do. At most, Emma was an accomplice."

Professor Longbottom nodded understandingly. "Mia, please could you fetch Emma and Matilda up here?"

As Mia headed down the stairs to the Common Room, she wondered if she and Lily had done the right thing, dropping their little sisters in it like this. But, whatever their motive had been for taking other students' wands and textbooks, it was still wrong.

In the Common Room, Matilda was still perched atop her 'stage', arguing with a fifth year boy, who was offering her a galleon to shut up.

"I don't want your money," Matilda said disdainfully. "Money's not important to me – I care about the environment."

"And I care about my OWLs," the boys said, "so just take the money and shut up, there's a good girl."

"I'm not a 'good girl'," Matilda said indignantly, her eyes flashing. "I'm an eco warrior, and I won't be bought off by someone who cares more about themselves than the environment that gave birth to them!"

"Put a silencing charm on her, Javan," someone called from across the room. "Seems like the only way any of us are likely to get any peace."

"No need, Javan," Mia said as the boy drew his wand. "Matilda, Professor Longbottom wants to see you and Emma. He's in your dormitory."

"Why?" Matilda demanded, reluctantly climbing down from her stage.

"You can ask him that yourself," Mia said. "C'mon Emma." She held out a hand to help up Emma, who was now the sole member of Matilda's audience.

Matilda bounded off in the direction of the dormitories, with Emma following more slowly and Mia bringing up the rear. As they started on the staircase, Mia chivvied her 'little sister' along, so that by the time they reached the first year's room, she and Emma were just behind Matilda.

Matilda pushed open the door and saw the box of wands and textbooks. "Oh."

"Yes, oh," Professor Longbottom replied dryly. "So, who would like to tell me about this?" he gestured to the box.

There was a moment's silence before Matilda, after glancing at Emma, who was white as a sheet, spoke. "It was all my idea."

"Yet the box was found under your bed, Emma?" Professor Longbottom asked.

"I..." Emma stammered.

"That was my idea too," Matilda said. "I figured my bed was the first place people would look, and Emma's the last, so..."

"It was me too!" Emma said, suddenly finding her voice. "I might have been Matilda's idea, but I helped, and I said it was okay to keep the stuff under my bed."

"Thank you for being honest, Emma," Professor Longbottom said, his voice still grave. "Now, Matilda, I would like you to tell me precisely what this 'idea' of yours entailed."

"I wanted – I still want – to make people think about what they'd do if there were no trees to make wands and textbooks from," Matilda said, starting to fire up like she had down in the Common Room. "No one gives a damn, and I thought wizards would be better at this than Muggles, but it turns out they're even worse, and-"

"So you thought stealing from your fellow students would be the best way to do this?" Professor Longbottom demanded.

"I wasn't-" Matilda began.

"It was stealing," Professor Longbottom said firmly. "You stole other students' property."

"Well it's only what wizards do when they take wood from trees to make wands," Matilda retorted. "You would've thought the presence of bowtruckles might be a bit of a giveaway that's it wrong, but nope! you're all clearly too stupid to see that!"

"Let me just remind you who you're talking to," Professor Longbottom said warningly. "Now, were the two of you the limit of his operation, or...?"

Matilda folded her arms. "I'm not a tell-tale." She glared meaningfully at Lily, Mia and Hugo."

"Let me guess – JJ Jordan and Archie Macmillan?" Professor Longbottom suggested.

Matilda's face briefly betrayed that he was right before she regained her composure and said, "I retain the right to remain silent."  
"I thought as much," Professor Longbottom said. "Lily and Mia, would you be so kind as to escort these two down to my office, and Hugo, would you fetch JJ whilst I fetch Archie."  
He picked up the box of stolen items and prepared to head out of the room.

"Please, Uncle Neville, could you give James back his wand?" Lily asked. "Ailie and Mary have new ones to replace the stolen ones, but James' was only stolen this afternoon, and he's freaking out because of his NEWTs."  
"I'll give it back to him," Professor Longbottom nodded. "And could I please remind you to call me Professor Longbottom whilst we're in school," he added, with the merest hint of a twinkle in his eye.

"Sorry, Professor," Lily said, blushing.

Professor Longbottom led the way out of the dormitory.

"Lily-" Matilda began.

"I'm not talking to you," Lily said.

Matilda continued regardless. "I swear I didn't know that was James' wand – I thought it was a first year's, and we've all finished our exams. I swear I'd never've taken it if I knew it was James', cuz he's still got exams."

"Hmm..." Lily said. "Well, I guess that's one point in your favour. You're still an idiot, though."

They reached the foot of the stairs, and whilst Professor Longbottom headed into the Common Room to find James and JJ respectively, Lily and Mia led their little sisters out of the Common Room.

"Mia-" Matilda began, as the four of them exited through the portrait hole.

"I think it's probably best if you keep your mouth shut, Matilda, don't you?" Mia said firmly.

The four of them proceeded along the corridor towards Professor Longbottom's Head of House Office in silence. Emma was still white as a sheet, and Mia gave her a reassuring smile as the four of them waited in the corridor.

Hugo arrived several minutes before Professor Longbottom, with JJ in tow. The younger boy began to ask Matilda a question, but was checked by a glare from Hugo.

"What's taking Professor Longbottom so long?" Matilda sighed, leaning against the wall.

"If I were you, I'd be thankful for a bit of a break before getting yelled at," Hugo told her.

"I don't think I've ever seen Professor Longbottom angry..." Matilda mused.

"I have," Lily said, seemingly forgetting that she wasn't talking to her little sister. "It doesn't happen very often, but when he's mad, he's really mad."

Professor Longbottom rounded the corner, Archie following. "Thank you for your help, you three," he said to Lily, Mia and Hugo. "You can go now."

The three of them turned and headed back to Gryffindor tower, leaving their 'little siblings' to their fate.


	39. Chapter Thirty-Nine: Consequences

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Consequences

Neville Longbottom closed his office door with a flick of his wand, sat down behind his desk, and surveyed the four first years in front of him: Matilda, calm and defiant; Archie, anxious; JJ, nonchalant; and Emma, who could only be described as terrified.

"Right," he said gravely. "Perhaps one of you could enlighten me on the particular part of your moral upbringing which taught you that stealing was an appropriate thing to do."

Matilda began to speak, but Neville cut across her.

"I think we've heard enough from you, Matilda," he said. "Perhaps one of you boys would be kind enough to induct me into the way of thinking that's told you your actions are okay?"

There was a long, awkward silence, and then Archie spoke,

"I guess there isn't anything," he said sheepishly.

"No, that's right, there isn't anything," Neville said. "There is NOTHING – no environmental idea or principle – which could ever make it right to steal. What you did was immoral and inconsiderate and childish. Here at Hogwarts, we like to treat our students like young adults, but you've shown that you're obviously not ready for that approach – your behaviour has been that of children. Only children would resort to the petty theft we've seen from you four."

"Grown-ups steal, sometimes," Matilda said indignantly.

"And those grown-ups end up in prison," Neville said, wondering if Matilda had any shame. "Is that really the path you want to be taking? That was a rhetorical question. JJ, do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"No, sir, only that I guess we just got caught up in what we were doing, so that we didn't stop to really think about what we were doing, if you see what I mean..." JJ said.

Neville nodded. 'Not thinking' seemed to be Matilda's default stance, and clearly the others' too, since they'd blindly followed Matilda.

"The four of you will each lose fifty points for your respective houses," Neville said, inwardly cringing at the hit that loss was going to be for Gryffindor's standings in the House Cup, but determined to ensure the four first years understood how seriously he was taking their behaviour. "You will serve detention until you've written letters of apology to everyone you stole from, and have personally returned every stolen item, under my supervision. In September, the four of you will start an environmental club, where, _under my close supervision_ , you can perform environmental actions and campaign _peacefully_. I will also be writing to your parents."

There was a collective intake of breath at his last punishment. Neville grinned inwardly as he played the worst card in his hand – if his daughters were to be believed, it seemed to be universally acknowledged amongst teenagers that the worst punishment the school could throw at you was nothing compared to parental involvement. Neville just about heard Archie mutter 'my parents are gonna kill me'.

"You can go," Neville said. "I'll see you all here at nine o'clock tomorrow morning for your first detention." He opened the door with a flick of his wand and Matilda, Archie and JJ filed out. Emma, however, lingered, and Neville realised that sometime in the last few minutes she'd gone from 'pale' to 'ghostly white'. "Emma, take a seat," he said quickly – he was afraid she might feint.

"Please, Professor, don't write to my parents!" Emma said urgently. "I'll do detention every day for the rest of the time I'm at Hogwarts, just please don't write to my parents!"

"Emma, it's Hogwarts policy that parents are informed of serious disciplinary issues like this one," Neville told her. "Why don't you want me to write to your parents?"

"I just... don't," Emma said, looking like a rabbit caught in the headlamp of the Hogwarts Express.

"Well, I'm afraid that's not a good enough reason," Neville said. "Should I let people off detention just because they don't want to do it?"

"No-o..." Emma said. "I'll just... go to bed then."

As the door clicked shut behind Emma, Neville sighed and pulled a roll of parchment towards him. He knew what he had to do.

* * *

Mia was halfway through a dream where Matilda and co. had kidnapped Josh Young, shrunk him, and imprisoned him in James' wand, when she was shaken awake.

"Mia, I know you're mad at me, but I don't think you're mad at Emma, and even if you are, she really needs you."

Mia opened her eyes to see Matilda standing over her. "What's wrong with Emma?" she asked, taking in the important part of Matilda's speech.

"She's doing that panicky not breathing thing again," Matilda said. "She won't breathe when I tell her to, and you and Lily helped last time, but Lily stinging jinxed me kind of in her sleep when I tried to wake her up."

Mia sat up and checked her watch – it was just before midnight. "Alright, I'm coming."

Mia followed Matilda down to the first years' dormitory. Emma was sat up in her bed. "I can't breathe, I can't breathe," she gasped when she saw Mia.

"Yes you can," Mia said, sitting down opposite Emma and taking her hands like she'd seen Lily do just before Christmas. "Just breathe with me, deep breaths, nice and slow."

Emma gave a long, shuddering breath, and then started sobbing again. "I can't-"

"You can," Mia said firmly. "C'mon, breathe with me, in and out."

Gradually, Emma began to calm down, and her breathing slowly returned to normal.

"What's wrong, Em?" Mia asked her 'little sister', once she was fairly sure Emma had rediscovered the art of breathing.

"Nothing," Emma said quietly, not meeting Mia's eyes.

"You don't just have a panic attack over nothing," Mia said. "Why don't you talk to me – maybe I can help?"

Emma shook her head. "You can't help."

"You don't know until-" Mia began, but Emma cut across her.

"I know," she said. "Thanks, Mia, but you can't help – no one can."

Mia looked at her little sister. Emma had a habit of keeping her cards close to her chest, and now Mia didn't know what to do. If she tried to push Emma to talk to her, she risked pushing her even further away, but on the other hand there was clearly something really bothering her.

"Emma, if you just tell me what I can do to help you, I'll do it," she said eventually.

"You can go away and let me get some sleep," Emma sighed, lying down. "I'm sorry, Mia – I just want to be by myself."

"Okay," Mia nodded, standing up. "But if you want me, you know where I am, okay?"

"Okay," Emma said. "Goodnight, Mia."

Mia headed back up to bed, wondering what was going on with her little sister. Surely if she'd just been feeling guilt over the stealing thing, she'd've said...

Mia shared her concerns with Lily over breakfast the next morning.

"I don't want to think or talk about those idiots," Lily grumbled. "We wasted a whole evening of revision on them, and I bet Professor Longbottom thinks it's partly our fault for not keeping a better eye on them... as if _anyone_ could stop Matilda when she's got her mind set on something."

"That lot better just wait until I get my hands on them," James said, from where he was sat with Fred and Chris, opposite Lily and Mia. "They better count themselves lucky they'll have Professor Longbottom along with them for protection when they deliver their letters of apology... little idiots."

"You know, _you_ owe someone an apology," Chris mused.

"Who?" James demanded.

"Josh," Chris said. "Since it turns out he didn't take your wand."

"No way," James said. "Can you imagine the smug look on his face if I actually admitted I was wrong about something?"

"But you were wrong..." Mia said – as much as she was fed up with Josh, she knew that the feud was almost as much James' fault as it was Josh's.

"He never apologised for intercepting my MIs last year," James said indignantly. "Or winding my watch on, for that matter."

"You can't even prove he did that," Fred interjected. "You really do owe him an apology, James – be the bigger man an' all that, seeing as you're leaving in a few weeks, and you won't ever have to see him again."

"Hmm..." was all that James said.


	40. Chapter Forty: Howlers

Chapter Forty

Howlers

Over the next few days, Mia and her friends were present with letters of apology and head their stolen books and wands returned by Matilda, Emma, JJ and Archie. The four first years had to endure plenty of verbal abuse from the students they'd stolen from, although Mia imagined it was far less than what they would've heard if Professor Longbottom hadn't accompanied them.

On Tuesday morning, as the third years were cramming for Modern History of Magic at breakfast, they were interrupted by the arrival of the post owls. Although this was a daily occurrence, there had been a handful of times over the year when the post owls had born something out of the ordinary – a parcel of decomposing rats sent to a sixth year by his jilted ex-girlfriend on Valentine's Day being the most memorable.

"Oh crap," Mia head JJ say loudly, and turned to look up the table to where he was sitting, with Matilda and Emma, a few places away. He was staring, horrified, at a red envelope that a tawny owl was offering him.

Hugo hooted with laughter. "You got yourself a howler, mate!"

JJ grabbed the letter and made as if to run out into the Entrance Hall with it.

"Oh no you don't," Hugo said firmly, getting to his feet and guiding his little brother back to his seat. "Howlers and meant for everyone to hear. Go on, open it up, or it'll be worse when it explodes."

"You're well mean!" JJ grumped.

"And you were an idiot, and now you're getting yelled at by your parents," Hugo grinned. "Get it over with, and then all will be well with the world again."

JJ sighed, and then quickly tore the envelope open and then stuffed his fingers in his ears, just in time to slightly dampen the yelling voice which Mia guessed belong to his father,

"Jordan Joshua Jordan, how could you be so STUPID? I don't care what kind of environmental protest you thought you were on, that does not give you the right to steal!"

But before he got any further, another voice was added to the noise.

"Wait, does JJ have two dads?" Lily asked Mia. "Where's that noise coming from?"

Lily and Mia looked around the Great Hall, searching for the source of the second voice, which didn't seem to be coming from JJ's howler.

"It's Archie," Hugo said – standing up, he had a better view of what was going on at the other house tables. "He's got a howler too."

The cacophony of shouting parents (someone's mum joined it at some point, although Mia couldn't quite tell whose) continued for several minutes. Lily nudged Mia and asked, "Is it just me, or does JJ's dad sound like he's trying really hard not to laugh?

Mia listened carefully, attempting to block out Archie's dad. "Yeah," she said eventually, grinning. "He's this close to a massive laughing fit."  
Eventually, Archie's dad wound up by threatening, "If I had my way, you'd be grounded for the entire summer, young man, so you'd better hope your mother has managed to talk me out of it by the time you get home."

Silence fell momentarily, and then the normal buzz of breakfast chatter started up again.

* * *

That evening in the Gryffindor Common Room, Chris and Samuel Wood staged mediation between James and Josh. Mia was revising, this time for Potions, her third to last exam, when she saw the two Wood brothers leading James across the common room to where Josh was sitting.

"Aww, get lost – I'm not in the mood," Josh sighed, as he saw them walking over.

"We're not here for a fight," Chris said.

"I might be," James interjected.

"You try that, and you'll have both of us to deal with," Samuel warned. "Sit down."

Sighing and grumbling, James sat down, facing Josh.

"Right, listen up, you idiots," Chris said. "This feud has gone on far too long, and the pair of you are gonna sort it out right now."

He looked from James to Josh and back again, silently daring them to protest.

"Whatever," James sighed. "Just make it quick, alright – I've got stuff to do."

"Put your wands on the table," Samuel ordered.

"No way!" Josh said, at the same time as James asked,

"Why?"

"If you think we trust you two not to jinx each other during this mediation, then you should know we're nowhere near as naive as we look," Chris said.

"Try saying that ten times fast," James put in.

Chris glared at him. "Wands. Table."

Grudgingly, the two feuding Gryffindors put their wands on the table between them.

"Now, James, without going crazy or picking up your wand, please articulate your issue with Josh," Samuel said.

"I'm not the one with issues," James shrugged, and Chris held up a hand to silence Josh,

"Hold your horses, mate," he said. "You'll get your turn. James, continue."

"That's about it," James shrugged. " _He's_ the one with the problem. My only issue with _him_ is the issue _he_ has with me."

"Josh?" Samuel said.

"I think you're an arrogant git," Josh said. "You think you're such a big man, just because your dad's Harry Potter and you're Quidditch Captain."

"You're jealous," James told him. "That's _your_ problem, not mine."

"I'm not jealous," Josh scoffed. "Who'd want to be you?"

"Not me, sometimes," James told him. "It's a lot to live up to, you know."

"Oh yeah, it's so hard to have everyone adore you," Josh said sarcastically. "You barely have to lift a finger and you have people lining up to kiss your arse."

"Yeah, that's what you think it's like being me, is it?" James asked. "Well, let me burst your bubble, pal – it's not. I have to work damn hard to be everything that everyone expects me to be. I'm scared I'll've failed my NEWTs because I've been too busy with other stuff this year. The girl that I've loved for over three years is this close to calling this off for good because she – rightly – wants and needs more than the 2% of me I've been able to give her lately. I have to bear the brunt of any abuse – and there's a lot of it – directed at the Quidditch team by either other houses, or just ignorant idiots who claim they could've done better when they don't know that my guys always give it 110%. I'm feeling under so much pressure to become an auror, and I don't know if the reason I'm reacting so badly against it is because I don't actually want to be an auror, or just because I just want to feel in control of my future. Yeah, Josh, it's a walk in the park being me."

Josh seemed slightly flawed by all that. Eventually he said, "But all that doesn't make you anyone special – everyone our age struggles with this kind of stuff."

"Exactly!" James said. "I'm not anyone special – I'm just an ordinary eighteen-year-old guy, trying to figure out what to do with my life. I don't make a song and dance about it – the only person who's doing that is you."

Josh screwed up his face, clearly irritated. "Maybe you're right."

James nodded curtly. "Yeah. I am. Maybe we're not that different, really, Josh."

"Maybe..." Josh conceded. "Uh – I guess I'm sorry I've been making things harder for you with my... idiocy."

"Thanks," James nodded. "And Josh, I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions and accused you of stealing my wand."

"For what it's worth, I never wound your watch forward either," Josh added.

"I know," James nodded. "I guess only when I was really worked up, did I actually think you could've. Truce?" James suggested.

"Truce," Josh agreed, and the two boys shook hands.

Chris and Samuel high-fived each other. "We are officially geniuses, little bro," Chris said.

* * *

Mia didn't have any exams on Wednesday, so, after breakfast, as Lily and Hugo headed off to their Muggle Studies exam, she met up with Theo and Ruby, and headed outside to revise for Wizarding Social Studies.

"I wish we didn't have to revise," Ruby sighed, stretching out on the grass. "I could just lie here and sleep for a million years."

"Yeah, good luck with that," Theo grinned, depositing a handful of grass on Ruby's face.

"Okay, name me all the departments of the Ministry," Mia said.

Mia, Theo and Ruby revised by the lake until their watches and stomachs told them it was lunch time. They headed inside, and Mia joined Lily and Hugo and the Gryffindor table, where she had to endure them dissecting the Muggle Studies exam they'd just taken.

"Why even is there Muggle Studies?" Matilda mused. "And why don't Muggle schools have Wizard Studies?"

"Because most Muggles don't know Wizards exist," Lily told her.

"Yeah, why is that?" Matilda asked.

"Because we don't want them to know – witch burnings and all that," Hugo explained. "It's better for everyone if the Wizarding and Muggle worlds exist side by side, not on top of each other."

"I guess..." Matilda said. "It just makes it pretty hard to be a Muggle-born."


	41. Chapter Forty-One: Emma's Father

Chapter Forty-One

Emma's Father

After lunch, Lily, Mia, Hugo and Louis headed up to the Inter-House Common Room to revise some more. They were glad that the first and second years were back in class now, so the room was full of other revising students and mostly quiet.

"I just want exams to be over," Lily sighed. "But I guess there's only two more to go..."  
"Three for me and Hugo," Mia reminded her.

"That's cuz you're silly," Lily retorted. "You're both silly for taking Social Studies."

"You're silly for not taking it," Hugo told her, pulling a face at his cousin.

Over the course of the afternoon, the four of them were joined by various members of the gang. The third years tested each other on Potions and Transfiguration, which were the last two exams for everyone except those who took Wizarding Social Studies.

"I feel like my head's going to explode if I try and cram anything else into it," Frankie Longbottom sighed, several hours later.

"Agreed," Kieran yawned. "Well, I'm not gonna do any more revision right now, at least not until after dinner. Exploding Snap, anyone?"

Most people agreed with him, and started packing their books away. Alice Longbottom and Andy Cattermole headed to the library for some peace and quiet, but the rest of the group joined in the exploding snap game.

They'd only played two rounds, and were embarking upon the third when Matilda came bounding over to them.

"Guess what? Guess what?" she said excitedly.

"You're skiving class?" Louis suggested.

Matilda rolled her eyes. "Don't be daft – lessons finished three minutes and forty-eight seconds ago. No – guess who's here?"

"You."

"The Minister."

"No one."

Matilda scowled, clearly getting impatient at the suggestions. "No, it's Emma's dad!"

"What, her step-dad... Steve?" Mia asked. "The guy who send that really mean letter at Christmas."

Matilda shook her head. "No, her _dad_ dad – her real dad – the one she's never met. C'mon – I said I'd meet her at dinner and bring you, Mia." She tugged at Mia's arm.

"Alright, I'm coming," Mia said, getting to her feet. "See you guys later," she said to the gang, before following Matilda out of the Inter-House Common Room.

"What if Emma's dad's come to take her away?" Matilda mused as she and Mia headed downstairs. "What if she never comes back?"

"Why would he take her away from Hogwarts?" Mia asked.

"I don't know," Matilda said defensively. "But it is _possible._ "

"Theoretically," Mia conceded. "But just because something's _possible_ , doesn't mean it's _likely_."

"Just because it's unlikely, doesn't mean it's impossible," Matilda retorted.

Mia sighed. There really was no point arguing with Matilda sometimes – she was so stubborn that arguing with her was often like pushing against a brick wall, the amount she moved.

Mia and Matilda were halfway through their dinner when Mia spotted Emma walking down the table towards them. She looked somewhat different, and it took Mia until Emma was almost upon them before she figured out what it was. Emma looked as though the weight she'd been carrying since the first years' environmental protest had been discovered – or perhaps even before then, Mia wasn't quite sure – had been lifted.

"What's he like?" Matilda asked as Emma sat down, which Mia thought was fairly concise for Matilda.

"I..." Emma said. "I think I like him." She turned to Mia. "He's a wizard, like I said I thought he was. His name's Draco Malfoy-"

" _Draco Malfoy_?" Mia, Emma and Matilda looked around to see Lily stood behind them.

"Where did you come from?" Mia demanded.

"I followed Emma cuz I wanted to hear about her dad," Lily said, unabashed.

Mia rolled her eyes, as Lily continued,

"Draco Malfoy was a Death Eater-"

"He told me," Emma nodded.

"And his son's Scorpius Malfoy – he's usually going out with Rose, Hugo's sister."

"He told me about Scorpius too," Emma said. "I think I know who he is..."

"He's the Slytherin Seeker," Mia told her.

Matilda launched into another lengthy question, and Mia could see Emma withdrawing again – she needed some time absorb the fact that she'd just met her dad.

"Hey, why don't we let Emma eat?" Mia suggested.

"Okay," Matilda sighed, turning back to her dinner. Lily wandered away, and Mia reached across the table to offer Emma some sausage casserole.

They'd almost finished eating when Mia saw Scorp walking across the room towards them.

"Hey..." he said awkwardly. "You're Emma, right?"

Emma nodded.

"I'm Scorp," Scorp said.

"I know," Emma nodded.

"So... Dad said you were good at flying and maybe wanted to seek someday, so I wondered if you wanted to go flying with me sometime?" Scorp suggested tentatively.

"I... I'd like that," Emma said.

"Cool," Scorp grinned. "Maybe at the weekend? – once my exams have finished." Emma nodded her assent, and Scorp said, "see you around, then," before heading off toward the Slytherin table.

"Mia...?" Emma said tentatively. "Would you go for a walk with me after dinner?"  
"Sure," Mia nodded.

"I'll come too!" Matilda said enthusiastically. "We could go down to the lake and-"

Emma shook her head ever so slightly.

"Why don't you find Lily and take her on your own walk?" Mia suggested. "Emma and I want to talk, and that'll scare away any wildlife."

"Okay," Matilda said, springing to her feet. "Don't be long," she told Emma. "Remember we've got detention at seven."

She skipped off to find Lily.

Mia and Emma got to their feet and headed out into the grounds.

"I think my dad's really going to fix things..." Emma said after she and Mia had been walking for several minutes.

"What things?" Mia asked tentatively, not wanting to push too hard, but aware that her little sister was about to tell her something she'd been bottling up all year.

"With my step-dad," Emma said. "He... he gets angry a lot. And when he gets angry, someone gets hit... and it's usually me. Except now I'm not at home, I'm not there to protect my brother and sisters, and I should be, because that's my job as the big sister. And I love being at Hogwarts now, because it really is great, and it's safe, but I want to be at home too because I love my family... but I hate it too, and..." she trailed off.

"Does your step-dad hit your mum too?" Mia asked.

Emma shook her head. "He doesn't need to. He's already got her wrapped around his little finger."

"Your black eye at Easter," Mia said. "Was that Eddie, or..."

"Steve," Emma nodded. "He was mad at Evie – she's four now, but that's still only really little, and I couldn't watch him hurt her, so I... made him mad at me instead. I got a black eye, but he forgot he was mad at Evie."

"Emma-" Mia began, but Emma cut her off.

"It's how it works, Mia," she said, in a voice which clearly said 'you don't get this and you never will'. "When Evie was born, me and Eddie made a pact to not let Steve ever hurt Ellie and Evie if we could help it. But Eddie doesn't know I also made a pact with myself to stop him getting hurt too. And when I'm at Hogwarts I can't do that."

Emma looked like she was about to cry, and so Mia hugged her.

"But it's going to be okay now, somehow," Emma said, rubbing her eyes. "I know it seems stupid, but I really think my dad's gonna fix things, even though I don't know how. And my dad's asked Professor Longbottom if he can take me out for tea next week for my birthday – he said he'll write to me when he gets home tonight to tell me what Professor Longbottom said."

"If your dad asked you to go live with him, would you say yes?" Mia asked, already fairly sure she knew that answer.

Emma shook her head. "He already asked, and I said no. Home might be where Steve is – and I wish he wasn't – but it's also where Eddie, Ellie, Evie are. And my mum..." Emma paused, searching for the right words. "I do love her... it's just... I feel like I've always had to be more of a mum to her than she's ever been to me, you know?"

Mia couldn't say she did know – her parents had always been her parents, and she'd always been the child in the relationship.

"Things are going to be okay now, Mia," Emma said, and Mia wasn't quite sure exactly who the reassurance was for – Mia or Emma herself. "When Professor Longbottom said he was going to write our parents, he actually wrote to my dad, so Steve doesn't even know."

Mia checked her watch. "I'll walk you to your detention," she said.

"Hopefully tonight, or maybe tomorrow, will be the last one," Emma said, as they turned and headed back towards the castle.

"And then no more following Matilda's crazy schemes, okay?" Mia said. "If you're not sure if they're crazy or not, run them by me, yeah?"

Emma nodded. "I just wanted her to be my friend," she said quietly.

Mia hugged her little sister again. "Real friends don't base friendship on you doing things for them," she said. "I think that's something Matilda's starting to learn."


	42. Chapter Forty-Two: By the Lake

Chapter Forty-Two

By the Lake

On Friday morning, Mia queued outside Wizarding Social Studies with Hugo, waiting for her last exam to start. She'd decided that she didn't like having exams spread out over two weeks, because it felt like they went on forever. What with all the stuff with James and Josh, and Emma and the other first years, it really did feel like the past two weeks had lasted forever.

"Reckon I'll get extra marks for writing all the Ministers at the bottom?" Hugo asked, grinning. "I'm fairly sure I can still remember them."

"More likely you'd get disqualified for singing during an exam," Theo grinned.

Hugo pulled a face at him, as Professor Hawksworth opened the classroom door and ushered them inside. "In you come, I know this is the highlight of your week," he grinned.

"More like the end of the exam is," Theo grinned.

"Concentrate on the exam first, Mr Nott," Professor Hawksworth. "Hurry up, Mr Peaks and Mr Coote – no talking now."

Mia took her seat, and waited for the exam to begin. Once the last student had taken their seat, Professor Hawksworth shut the door.

"You have one hour and thirty minutes," he said. "You may begin."

Mia turned over her paper and read the first question: '1(a), list the seven Departments in the Ministry of Magic (2 marks). (b), for two Departments, provide a detailed description of the offices found within them (2+2 marks).'

Mia grinned to herself – almost every revision session had started with listing the Departments within the Ministry – and started writing.

* * *

After their exam, Mia and Hugo met Lily in the Inter-House Common Room, where the atmosphere was noisy and excitable – castle-wide all exams had finished, except one NEWT practical, which was scheduled for the afternoon. Those students who were taking it had wisely decided to take refuge in the library, because the rest of the school couldn't be expected to keep quiet long enough for them to be able to revise anywhere else.

"Hey, everyone, listen up!" Fred's voice boomed out, magically magnified, and a hush fell over the room. "After dinner, party down by the lake. Everyone's invited, even those gitty first and second years who finished exams last week. See ya there."

"Sounds fun," Lily grinned at Mia and Hugo. "D'you suppose we _have_ to tell the first years...?" she mused. "I mean... they're in class, they haven't heard Fred... isn't it a shame they finished detention last night?"

"You could just send Matilda off on a nature walk," Mia grinned. "That'd keep her happy."

"More likely she'd complain everyone was being too noisy and scaring all the creatures away," Lily grinned.

Mia spent the afternoon lazing around the grounds with Lily and some others from the gang. After dinner, they headed outside again, and down to the little natural beach-cove beside the lake, which, as usual, was the location of the party. It looked over half the school had turned out for it. Someone had lit a bonfire, and music was being provided by a band comprised of fourth-years.

"Cool party, cuz," Lily grinned at Fred, having pushed her way through to where he, James and Chris were.

"Cheers," Fred grinned. "It was Ruthie's idea, actually-" he nodded over to where his girlfriend was easily visible in amongst a group of her friends, by her electric blue hair. "I'm just the shouty one who gets stuff done."

James sighed heavily.

"What's up with you?" Fred demanded.

"Only two more weeks, and then we've finished school forever," James said. "It feels _weird_."

"What're you gonna do for the next two weeks?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, cuz everyone else is starting next year's work, but you can't..." Mia mused.

"Sleep," James shrugged. "Play Quidditch. Laze around by the lake. Maybe even pull a few pranks..."

"What kind of pranks?" Lily demanded.

"None of your business," James said loftily.

"He means he hasn't thought of any yet," Chris told the third years in a stage whisper.

James laughed and poked him.

The greater part of the school spent the evening out by the lake, or in some cases _on_ the lake, since some of the seventh years had procured a pair of boats from somewhere, and were taking turns to sail on the lake.

Mia was sitting chatting with some of the gang when Matilda came running over.

Lily sighed as she saw her little sister approaching. "Seriously, Mattie, can't I get one evening's peace?"

"Not tonight," Matilda said. "Some guys were having a go at us for the whole stealing thing, but then it all got nasty, so I came for help."

Lily, Mia, Hugo and Louis got to their feet, shortly followed by Rachel, Ailie and Theo. The seven of them followed Matilda through the clusters of students until they reached the spot where Emma, JJ and Archie were surrounded by a group of about a dozen what looked to be mainly fourth years.

"Hey, leave them alone!" Lily said, charging toward the group. Mia could see that the older students all had their wands out, and she drew hers too.

One of the fourth years, who Mia thought she recognised as a Ravenclaw, turned at Lily's shout.

"Get lost," he told her. "We're just teaching these kids a lesson about stealing?"

"They're already had like a dozen punishments – you guys need to back off," Theo said firmly, his wand pointing at the boy who was speaking.

The boy raised his eyebrows. "Make me."

"Oi! Get the hell away from my sister!"

Mia looked around to see Scorpius, who'd obviously seen what was going on, marching over, his wand drawn.

"Your sister, Malfoy?" the boy asked.

"Yeah, my sister," Scorp said, pushing his way through the circle to the centre where Emma, JJ and Archie were. "You alright, Emma?"

Emma nodded.

"No clear off before I hex you all into the middle of next week," Scorp said. "These kids have learnt their lesson, and if I catch you harassing them again I'll hex your noses off."  
The leader of the little gang was clearly up for a fight, but he looked around at Scorp, the third years, and Matilda, who also had her wand out and was threatening to freeze them all to the spot to enable Scorp to curse them more easily, and thought better of it.

"Whatever," he shrugged. "These kids aren't worth wasting my breath on."

He stalked off, and the rest of his posse reluctantly followed.

"Did any of them hex you or anything?" Scorp asked the first years. They all shook their heads, and Scorp turned to Emma. "If you find them – or anyone else, for that matter – hassling you, come find me and I'll sort them out."

Emma looked uncertain.

"Seriously, Emma," Scorp said. "I'm not gonna let anyone pick on you. So... Quidditch tomorrow morning?" he suggested.

Emma nodded. "I'd like that," she said.

"Cool – I'll come find you after breakfast," Scorp said. He wandered off, but Mia noticed that for the rest of the evening he didn't stray far way from Emma, so he could continue to keep an eye on her.

Mia and her friends stayed outside until eleven o'clock, when a handful of teachers came outside to gently break up the party and send the students up to bed.


	43. Chapter 43

Chapter Forty-Three

Homeward Bound

Emma's birthday was on the following Thursday, and on Wednesday, she was allowed to leave lessons an hour early so her dad could take her out for tea. She came back not long after dinner heavily laden with presents. Lily and Mia were sitting with Matilda in the Gryffindor Common Room.

"Your dad bought you a broom!?" Matilda asked excitedly.

Emma nodded. "It's a Firebolt."

"Wow..." Lily said, examining the handle. "It's not just a Friebolt – it's a Firebolt Red – that's like the second best one."

" _And_ an owl?" Matilda asked, incredulous.

"She's for my 11th birthday," Emma explained. "My dad said Scorp got an owl for his 11th birthday, so he got one for me too."

"What's in the box?" Mia asked, nudging the box Emma had set down on the table.

"Cake," Emma grinned. "Astoria – Scorp's mum – made it for me to share with you guys tomorrow."

Later, when Lily had reluctantly agreed to go on a walk with Matilda, Emma confided in Mia of her fears regarding Astoria.

"I'm going to stay with them in the summer," she said. "I want to, but... what if Astoria doesn't like me? I mean... I wouldn't if I were her."

"But she knows none of this is your fault..." Mia reasoned.

"Yeah... but I'm the reminder that my dad cheated on her."

"She made you a cake," Mia pointed out.

"I guess..." Emma said. She opened the box to look at the cake again. "My dad bought Eddie an owl too," she said at length. "So he and the girls can write to me without having to wait for me to write to them." She picked off a lump of icing absent-mindedly, and Mia waited, sensing Emma was going to say something else. "My dad went to see Mum and Steve at the weekend," she said eventually.

There was an even longer pause this time, and Mia was just about to say something, when Emma spoke again.

"He says Steve won't hurt any of us anymore. Dad said he told him he'd curse him if he did..."

"But you're not sure...?" Mia inferred.

Emma nodded. "When I first met my dad, I thought everything was going to change – that everything was going to be okay. But now... I guess I'm just remembering that we go home next week, and home will still be with Steve who hates me, and Mum who thinks he hung the stars in the sky, and I'm just... scared that nothing's going to change."

Mia didn't know what to say, so she hugged her little sister. "I guess all you can do is go home and see. You know you've always got your dad to come and fix things if they go wrong."

"Yeah..." Emma nodded. "Things are definitely better than they were last year."

* * *

The next morning, Lily and Mia met their little sisters at breakfast.

"Happy birthday, Emma!" Mia said, hugging her little sister and offering her present – a collection of craft materials, some of which she'd owl-ordered, and some which she'd asked her parents to buy from home.

"Thank you," Emma smiled. She opened the present. "Wow, thanks, Mia."

"So, have you got good lessons for your birthday?" Mia asked.

"Not bad," Matilda shrugged. "We've got-"

"Lily cut her off. "Is it your birthday today?" she asked pointedly.

Matilda scowled at her big sister and Mia turned back to Emma.

"Yeah, pretty good," Emma nodded. "Double Potions, Herbology, Modern History, Defence and Flying."

"I forgot that you guys still do flying this late in the year, even when you've already learnt to fly," Lily mused.

" _Some of us_ have learnt to fly," Matilda corrected, scowling – she was still having difficulty with flying.

"You can't be good at everything," Lily said consolingly.

"I guess not," Matilda sighed. "I'd like to be, though."

Mia didn't see Emma again until that evening for one reason or another. After dinner, Lily and Mia threw a birthday party for Emma in the Inter-House Common Room, which was attended by Hugo and Louis and their little brothers, as well as some members of the gang who'd been persuaded by the presence of cake, and their little siblings, who'd been bullied into it, quite frankly – there was still a lot of badwill toward the first year quartet, in the wake of the 'stealing things incident', as Louis put it.

At Mia's insistence, Emma cut the cake Astoria had baked for her, and passed out the slices, in return for birthday wishes. Eventually, once the cake had been passed out, Emma sat down beside Mia to eat her own slice.

"I used to bake with my Gran," she said quietly. "She died, when I was nine. Now there's only Steve's mum, and why should she have anything to do with me? – I'm not her granddaughter."

Mia hugged her 'little sister'. "I'm sorry about your gran. Maybe you could bake with Astoria, when you go stay with you dad in the summer?" she suggested. "It'd be something you have in common – an ice breaker."

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Emma nodded. "Thanks, Mia," she said, after a pause. "Not just for that – for always listening to me, even if I'm being stupid and having a panic attack; and for the party; and just for being my 'big sister'."

"That's okay," Mia said. "And, even though there won't be any big sibling – little sibling events for us next year, I'll still be your big sister – I'll still be around, whenever you need me."

* * *

The last week of term seemed to fly by, and before Mia knew it, she and her friends were travelling back to London for the summer holidays. Lily and Mia had decided to avoid sitting with their little sisters, and instead found themselves sat opposite James and Chris. Fred was further up the train with Ruthie, but James and Chlo had been distant lately.

"I think we've broken up," James had shrugged at the Leaving Feast the previous night. "Or we're breaking up. Either way, I think it's for the best. I love her – I don't think I could ever stop. But sometimes, even when you love someone, you have to let them go. I think this is one of those times."

Now, James was melancholy. He spent a long time staring out of the window whilst Lily and Chris taught Mia gobstones, a game she'd never played before.

"No more Hogwarts," he said, out of nowhere, around lunchtime. "No more lessons. No more Quidditch. No more morning post, or Peeves, or mind-numbingly boring detentions, or Feasts at the slightest excuse. No more Hogsmede weekends, or lazy afternoons by the lake, or afternoon teas with McGonnagal or evenings spent in the Common Room... You two," he said to Lily and Mia, slightly less dreamily. "You're nearly halfway through your time at Hogwarts – be damn well sure you make the most of it, because when it's gone, it's gone."

"Hey, snap out of it, mate – you're not dying," Chris grinned. "You're not the kind to get all sappy and emotional."

Thereafter, James perked up and spent the rest of the journey attempting to surreptitiously transfigure various parts of Chris' face when he wasn't concentrating. However, he'd got Mia thinking – she hadn't really realised that in six months' time she'd be halfway through her time at Hogwarts – it was going so quick.

The Hogwarts Express pulled into Platform Nine-And-Three-Quarters late in the afternoon. All along the train, students spilled out onto the platform, greeting their families and bidding their friends goodbye.

"Lily, Mia!" Mia heard Matilda shriek.

"How did she find us so quickly?" Lily sighed. "Yes, Matilda?"

"Come meet my parents!" Matilda said excitedly. "You too, Mia – if Lily's my 'big sister' and you're her cousin, that makes you my big cousin or something."

"Or something," Mia agreed, following Matilda anyway. She was actually kind of intrigued to meet Matilda's parents – if their daughter was anything to go by, then they were most likely pretty weird.

"Mum, Dad – Lily, Mia," Matilda said, by way of introduction – which was remarkably succinct for her – as the three of them reached a black couple who Mia guessed to be considerably younger than her parents. Matilda's dad was short and stocky, with dreadlocks and an ear-stretcher earring. Matilda's mum seemed to be taller than her husband, although Mia guessed that was at least mostly due to the platform shoes. She was wearing a dress which appeared to be made purely of recycled materials, which crinkled whenever she moved.

Lily and Mia shook hands with both of Matilda's parents, which seemed to satisfy her, and then continued along up the platform, searing for their own parents.

They hadn't gone very far when they almost walked straight into Emma, who was standing still, tentatively watching Scorpius talking to someone who Mia could only guess was Draco Malfoy, Emma's father.

"You okay, Em?" Mia aside her little sister.

"W...will you come over with me?" Emma asked, almost too quietly for Mia to hear her on the crowded platform. "I don't know if Astoria's with him – I don't... I wouldn't know what to say."

"I'll come with you," Mia nodded, waving Lily on. "But I don't think Astoria is there – it looks like just your dad and Scorp."

Mia walked over with Emma. Draco saw them coming, and stopped his conversation with his son to greet his daughter. "Hi, Emma."

"Hi..." Emma said. "D...dad-" she stumbled over the word, and Mia wondered if it was the first time she'd used it. "-this is my 'big sister', Mia – I was telling you about her."

Mia had heard that Draco Malfoy was a Muggle-born hating pure-blood supremacist, but when he greeted Mia, his handshake was firm, and his smile genuine.

"Thank you for looking out for Emma this year," he said sincerely. He turned to Emma. "I was just telling Scorpius that I'm going to apparate you home and then come back for him – I daresay you can find ways to amuse yourself, son."

Scorp grinned. "Well, I do have a girlfriend I just made up with..." he said.

"Don't do anything you wouldn't do if your mother was watching," Mia heard Draco warn as she walked away, followed by Scorp's,

"Da-ad!"

Mia's parents were stood about another hundred yards along the platform, not far from where Lily was recounting the last Quidditch match to her mum. Mia took one last glance at the Hogwarts Express, before turning her back on the magical world for a summer in the muggle one.

* * *

The End :-). Stay tuned for _Regarding Emma_ in April - possibly my favourite thing I've ever written.


	44. Regarding Emma, coming tomorrow!

"And there is no doubt that I would kick your elongated posterior in a duel..."

Regarding Emma, a series of letters between Neville Longbottom and Draco Malfoy, and possibly my favourite thing I've ever written, coming tomorrow!


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